NACTA: PNM looks unbeatable

THE RESULTS of Monday’s Tobago House of Assembly (THA) elections show that the power of the PNM cannot be underestimated and the ruling party looks like it “will be unbeatable in future elections” in Trinidad and Tobago. The PNM scored a landslide victory, winning 11 of the THA’s 12 seats. DAC chairman Ashworth Jack won the final seat of Providence/Mason Hall/Moriah.

The new members of the Assembly were sworn in yesterday in Scarborough by President George Maxwell Richards. In its post-election analysis, the North American Caribbean Teachers Association (NACTA) said almost every voter it interviewed said the PNM ran a “competent, organised campaign making effective use of modern marketing strategies that were based on scientific polling data from its own internal polls and those of NACTA.”  NACTA said unlike the DAC, the PNM used this data to tailor its campaign to consolidate its hold on the seats that were close, or toss ups. NACTA also said the PNM’s use of the electronic and print media to get its message across “gave an aura of PNM invincibility and no doubt swayed undecided voters in the party’s camp, or convinced DAC supporters to stay home.”

The association said it had initially predicted a landslide victory for the PNM and did not rule out a clean sweep. On election day, the PNM’s election machinery kicked into high gear in getting the vote drives across Tobago and the DAC was no match in getting out the votes. During victory celebrations at PNM headquarters in Scarborough on Monday night, both Prime Minister Patrick Manning and THA Chief Secretary Orville London said the party’s election machinery worked well. Contrary to assertions from the Opposition UNC that only 35 percent of Tobago’s electorate voted in Monday’s elections, official data from the Elections and Boundaries Commission shows that voter turnout for the elections was 54 percent. NACTA concluded: “The massive victory of the PNM shows that the party cannot be taken lightly and when coupled with outstanding public relations, it will be unbeatable in future elections in the twin-island nation.”