Panday: PNM may steal Tobago elections

OPPOSITION LEADER Basdeo Panday said he would not be surprised that the ruling PNM already hatched a plan to steal the upcoming Tobago House of Assembly (THA) elections which are likely to be held in either December or January.  THA Chief Secretary Orville London dissolved the THA last week, clearing the way for the elections to take place. At Sunday’s National Alliance for Reconstruc-tion (NAR) national conference in Port-of-Spain,  Tobago NAR Chairman Christo Gift claimed the PNM had already received an April 2004 Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) report which recommended changes in ten of the 12 seats in the Assembly. Gift also alleged that the NAR has not received this report to date and the PNM has been using it to guide its election preparations over the last two months. Panday told Newsday  it was “quite possible” that the PNM had developed a plan to give it an unfair advantage in the upcoming THA polls.

He reiterated that the PNM had stolen previous elections and the possibility existed that they could do so again. However on those elections, Panday said the UNC is yet to decide whether it will intervene “directly or indirectly” or contest the elections at all. Last week, political sources in Tobago claimed there was talk of a possible UNC/NAR/ Democratic Action Congress (DAC) alliance to fight the PNM in the THA elections. One source claimed top UNC officials have been holding strategy sessions in Tobago, and they believe corruption allegations against Housing Minister Dr Keith Rowley in the Landate affair could hurt the PNM’s chances of retaining control of the THA. Gift expressed optimism that the NAR could win all 12 seats in the THA if it joins forces with the DAC, but made no mention of an alliance with the UNC. Gift publicly criticised NAR political leader Lennox Sankersingh for renewing ties with the UNC to contest the July 2003 Local Government Elections in Trinidad — which were convincingly won by the PNM.