Manning: "Licks like fire in this election!"

Patrick Manning assured supporters Friday night that the People's national Movement would win the May 24 general election.

In his characteristic election battle cry Manning told supporters at a meeting in Palo Seco: "We will beat them in the north, in the south, in the east, in the west and in Tobago and you shall be able to raise your head high as say great is the PNM, great is the PNM!..Licks like fire in this election!"

Manning told the meeting the PNM is the only stable party in the country and reiterated that it is the only party capable of managing the affairs of "a diverse nation such as Trinidad and Tobago".

What the country needs, he said, is stability not the uncertainty that would come if the UNC-led coalition wins the election.

He said that with its diverse cultural, religious and ethnic mix, Trinidad and Tobago needs "a strong, stable and hard working prime minister and a stable government in charge."

The PNM Political Leader suggested that only his party could provide such stability to ensure that a weak coalition doesn't let the country suffer the fate of nations like Northern Ireland, Fiji, Cyprus and Guyana.

"I look at you here tonight and I see a diverse cosmopolitan mix. The UNC believes they are going to win by a landslide but I tell you tonight, nothing is further from the truth," he said.

"As I have walked over this country, people have been telling me that night after night they listen to the PNM and UNC platforms and more and more they are telling me that they are focusing on the PNM platform because of the education they get night after night...because of the standard of education they get in the PNM,” Manning said.

“When you listen to a PNM meeting you can accept and believe what you hear because we don’t have to resort to half truths, lies or innuendos. We put the facts first and tonight is going to be no different...

"I see people of all races, of all classes and different walks of life, and I know that we are on the right track.”

Manning invited disenchanted opposition supporters to join his movement. “The doors of the PNM are open for all including those from the UNC and the COP. Come to the PNM and we will give you political rest,” he declared.