Dhansook holds key vote

CONTROVERSIAL People’s National Movement (PNM) councillor Dansam Dhansook is unsure of how he will vote on Monday to re-elect a chairman for the UNC-controlled Rio Claro/Mayaro Regional Corporation.

If he switches allegiance to the UNC, there will be a clear majority for continued control of the council by the opposition party. There is an equal number of PNM and UNC councillors, three each, which resulted in the drawing of lots for the election of outgoing chairman Ramlochan Panchoo.

Dhansook’s fall-out with the PNM began when he made bribery allegations against former Works and Transport Minister Franklyn Khan. Khan, a former PNM party chairman, is currently before the courts for allegedly receiving $120,000 in bribes from Dhansook to ensure Dhansook secured labour contracts in a seismic project by Canadian company Talisman.

Asked how he would vote in Monday’s election of a new chairman, Dhansook yesterday said, “I’m still thinking. I have not made up my mind on whether I will be voting or not on Monday. It is an issue, which calls for serious consideration. When Monday arrives I will decide on what I am doing.”

If Dhansook stays with the PNM, lots will have to be drawn again to choose a chairman. The results could very well swing to the PNM, giving them control of the council since 1996.

In choosing a chairman, councillors nominate two candidates as aldermen by voting in secret ballots. If there is an equal number of votes, as is expected on Monday, lots will be drawn.

Both UNC and PNM nominees for aldermen are written down and placed in a jar. The first two names drawn would be chosen to be aldermen of the council. A chairman will then be voted for. Outgoing chairman Panchoo told Newsday that while Dhansook is a “very key factor” in Monday’s elections, the results depend on “divine intervention.”

Panchoo, who said that he is willing to serve again if re-elected, added, “I do not want to preempt the outcome of the elections because no one knows which way it will go. We just have to wait and see the results.”