The campaign is over; now UNC members have their say

The candidates in Sunday's internal election of the United National Congress (UNC) closed their campaigns Saturday with huge motorcades and walkabouts.

The team led by Basdeo Panday chose to cancel the fanfare and public display of support for one-on-one meetings with UNC members while leadership contender Ramesh L. Maharaj did the same.

Maharaj is running an independent campaign but has refused to condemn Panday, focusing instead of Kamla Persad-Bissessar who is perceived as the front runner for the leadership.

The Persad-Bissessar and Warner campaigns, which are independent of each other, ended the day with motorcades in separate parts of the country.

Reports from central Trinidad say about 200 vehicles participated in the Warner motorcade that ended with a cultural presentation in Felicity.

In a final, Warner appealed to UNC supporters to vote for him, Persad-Bissessar and the 16 others running against the Panday slate, saying the current leadership in the UNC cannot and will not lead the party back to government.

"Change is coming like a tsunami," he said, adding that "we cannot continue along this road if we are to ever get back to government."

Warner talked about the same issues he had raised throughout the campaign, saying the track record of the Panday leadership is dismal.

"They have destroyed all the institutions of our Party; they have failed to account to you for the millions of dollars that you have put into the party...And still Panday has a bunch of “yes men” around him who are prepared to continue to betray you the people and prop up a leader who keeps telling lies and tries to blackmail you, so that they can keep all of us in opposition forever".

He said Panday has failed time and time again to demonstrate leadership. "If you elect me as chairman and Kamla as leader, it would signal that you want to move forward," he said. "So on Sunday...Vote for Jack Warner and Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the other candidates I have endorsed".

He said throughout the campaign Panday has not offered any reason why people should reelect him and suggested he cannot do that because he knows that he cannot lead the UNC back to government.

"Ask them this - we know you fought in the trenches but why are we still in the trenches? Why after nine years we are still in opposition?" he asked.

"We are no longer a winning party. Panday is no longer a winning commodity. We are never getting back in government with Panday as our leader," Warner said.

He said Panday has destroyed all hope of unity and without unity there is no way the UNC can win another election.

"My message to you, my brothers and sisters is a very simple one; but it is a very important one. It is a message of hope for a better future for all us and for generations to come.

"If you elect Basdeo Panday and his team you will destroy your best chance to break out of opposition and return to government."

Warner also slammed the party machinery, which has been brought into disrepute because of the delay in presenting a final list of voters. He charged that membership chairman Kelvin Ramnath deleted another 1400 names from the list on Sunday.

He said it doesn't matter how many names they delete, he will still win. He added that in a free and fair election there is no way that anybody could beat him and Persad-Bissessar.