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Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar greets a young supporter at the party’s headquarters in Chaguanas on September 1 after a general elections preparation meeting. – Photo courtesy UNC
THE Opposition UNC says it plans to return to government by winning 25 seats in the next general election.
The party’s optimism is based largely on its performance in last August’s local government elections in districts that fall in ten of these constituencies and its ability to win the election on its own.
These sentiments were reflected in a statement issued by UNC PRO Dr Kirk Meighoo about the general election preparation meeting the party held at its Chaguanas headquarters on September 1.
The current division of seats in the House of Representatives is 22:19 in the PNM’s favour.
As part of the UNC’s strategy to win 25 constituencies, Meighoo said it has identified ten as critical to its victory.
They are San Fernando West, La Horquetta / Talparo, Tunapuna, St Joseph, Toco/Sangre Grande, Moruga/ Tableland, Mayaro, Pointe-a-Pierre, Chaguanas East and Barataria/San Juan.
With the exception of Pointe-a-Pierre, Chaguanas East and Barataria/San Juan, the remaining seven constituencies are currently held by the PNM.
San Fernando West and La Horquetta/Talparo. Tunapuna, St Joseph, Toco/Sangre Grande, Moruga/Tableland, Chaguanas East and Barataria/San Juan are marginal constituencies.
Mayaro is regarded as a UNC stronghold.
Meighoo said, “All ten vital constituencies have been battle-tested and proven in the 2023 local government elections, which the UNC won convincingly.”
Those elections ended in a 7-7 tie between the UNC and the PNM.
At that time, the UNC was in an election alliance with the National Transformation Alliance (NTA), which did not win any districts but got an alderman appointed to the Diego Martin Borough Corporation.
A public rift between UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and NTA political leader Gary Griffith since February has made the possibility of an alliance between the two parties for the next general election remote.
The rift widened on August 26, when Persad-Bissessar claimed Griffith was a failure as commissioner of police from 2018-2021 and Griffith rejected her claims.
The NTA, Congress of the People (COP) and HOPE (Honesty, Opportunity, Performance, Empowerment) are currently in talks on an election alliance.
Meighoo recalled that in the 2020 election, the UNC fell short by 2,530 votes in St Joseph and San Fernando West from winning that election.
He said at the meeting on September 1, “The UNC demonstrated with the utmost clarity that it has not only closed that gap, but it has advanced much further (in both constituencies).”
At the meeting, Meighoo continued, constituency co-ordinators and activists updated Persad-Bissessar on their states of readiness, mobilisation, and the capacity of the party machinery in each of the ten constituencies identified as critical to a UNC election victory.
Persad-Bissessar told the meeting, “It is not money that will win the next elections, but the love, affection and trust built between our candidates and the people that will win.”
Meighoo said the meeting was the first of a series of events that will continue to strengthen the party over the months ahead.
“Meetings will be held regularly to cover all constituencies, monitor their progress, and to make strategic decisions based on the constant flow of information being actively gathered from the ground.”
On September 2, UNC MPs Rushton Paray, Anita Haynes-Alleyne, Dinesh Rambally and Dr Rai Ragbir said they were not invited to the September 1 meeting.
These MPs, along with Naparima MP Rodney Charles, have publicly questioned the ability of the UNC to win the next election while Persad-Bissessar remains its leader.
Last year, Charles announced that he would not be contesting the next election.
Paray, Rambally, Haynes-Alleyne and Ragbir have all filed nominations to stand for re-election in their respective constituencies of Mayaro, Chaguanas West, Tabaquite and Cumuto/Manzanilla.
