PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — The leader of the main opposition United National Congress (UNC), Kamla Persad Bissessar, claimed victory in the general election after the ruling People’s National Party (PNM) was swept aside on Monday.
Prime Minister Stuart Young conceded defeat as the PNM had sought a third consecutive victory at the polls, having defeated the then UNC-led People’s Partnership government in 2010.
Young, 50, said that the members of the population have spoken, “and despite tonight, I will fight for Trinidad and Tobago.
“We will hold the UNC and the coalition of self-interest to the coals,” he said, adding that with the full results yet to be declared by the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), the PNM, which had controlled 22 of the 41 seats in the last Parliament, was expected to win 10 or 12 seats.
Persad Bissessar, 73, told cheering supporters that she was giving the country the assurance that “no one will be left behind, because when UNC wins, everybody wins.
“We will walk into government together. You will now have a prime minister who cares, a prime minister who loves you, a prime minister who will fight so that we will all win together. We will work for you. You are the real bosses and we are here to serve the people, serve the people, serve the people.”
Persad Bissessar, flanked by members of the coalition, expressed thanked to the population for returning her and the party to government, saying, “let us rejoice and celebrate this day in our history.
“This has been a tremendous blessing and, once again, I thank you, Trinidad and Tobago. We will be with you every step of the way over the next five years and beyond and I want to say tonight to all our candidates who gave everything that they give … give it up for all the candidates of the UNC, give it up for the candidates of the coalition of interest.
“I say get ready to win. It is time to win because now the UNC did win, everybody wins. I have told you before, I have always told you, you have had leaders before me, you will have leaders after me, but I know you will never ever have a leader who loves you as much as I do,” she said.
“Thank you for your confidence for a better TNT and for letting the world know that we, the people, have the real power in Trinidad and Tobago,” she said, dismissing the “fake elites” and the “financiers with all their money.
“This victory is for the senior citizens to keep their pensions, this victory is for public servants to get their rightful salary increases, this victory is to re-open the Children’s Hospital, this victory is to re-open Petrotrin,” she added.
The Oilfield Workers Union (OWTU) is part of the UNC coalition, and its leader, Ancel Roget had said that any deal signed close to the general election “will not be honoured” by a future UNC government.
The OWTU had been unsuccessful in reaching an agreement with the last government to operate the loss-making refinery and Roget told the UNC public meetings that the closure of the refinery caused immense suffering to families.
“Since Stuart Young shut down Petrotrin, thousands of families have suffered. That will change on April 28,” he said.
Meanwhile, former prime minister Keith Rowley, who was present at the PNM headquarters when Young conceded defeat, told reporters it was “not a good night for the PNM”.
He said that from all reports, the 70-year-old party had not been successful in retaining power, saying, “it is clear we have lost the elections.
“Sometimes, you win some and … we wish all the winners well,” he said, adding that the party will on Wednesday announced the new opposition leader.
“We will continue to remain faithful to our course. What we are doing here is that we are conceding defeat. We do not have final figures for any constituency. We have some preliminary numbers; we have seen trends that indicate we are not likely to win those seats,” Rowley said, noting that the party was sufficiently knowledgeable about the remaining seats to know that it will not be victorious.
“We know we have lost the election, but to tell you which seats and by what margin, we can’t do that now,” Rowley said, defending his decision to step down from active politics last month and allowing Young to lead the government and the party into the election.
For his part, Young said that the PNM “is not the sour grapes type” and will “bounce back” as it has done over its decades of existence.
Look how easy and simple democracy works, you loose, you concede and give up power to the winner. Aging Ralph Gonsalves should learn a valuable lesson from this. Old man Gonsalves want to hold on to power at all cost doing it for himself and not for the population.