5 quit UNC race; Warner, Bharath in two-way contest for chairman

Five people have dropped out of the race in the United National Congress (UNC) internal election on January 24. One of them was nominated as an independent and four were on the team of Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

The independent is Deonarine Thackoordeen of Penal. He had submitted his nomination papers for political leader, making him one of four people in the race for the party's top post.

That leaves the original three-way battle with Persad-Bissessar and Ramesh L. Maharaj going against the incumbent, Basdeo Panday.

The chairman of the UNC elections committee, Kemchand Ramdath, confirmed that the others were in the Persad-Bissessar slate.

• Deputy Political leader - Gail Suzanne Roopnarine
• Chairman - Khadijah Ameen
• Regional coordinator for the Central region - Anil Baliram
• Regional coordinator for the North West region - Marilyn Plentie

This means that the contest for each of these positions, except deputy leader, is now a two-way race since there were only two teams registered.

Ameen's withdrawal creates a more intense fight for the chairmanship in a two-way race between Jack Warner and Vasant Bharath.