IAN ALLENYE is UNC St Joseph candidate

File: Ian Alleyne making an unexpected appearance at a PP meeting in San Fernando

Ian Alleyne is the candidate for the People's Partnership for the St Joseph byelection on November 4th.

The CRIME WATCH host filed his nomination papers on Monday for the United National Congress (UNC), the PP member that held the seat that it won in the 2010 general election.

He will be fighting against his former lawyer, Om Lalla, who is the candidate for the new Independent Liberal Party (ILP), led by former PP cabinet minister Jack Warner, and Terrence Deyalsingh of the People's National Movement.

There is also an independent candidate in the race - comedian and broadcaster Errol Fabien. The Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) has decided not to have a candidate and has instead endorsed Fabien. A fifth candidate is Michael Lopez, representing the Democratiuc National Alliance (DNA) led by Kirk Meighoo.

The seat was previously held by former judge Herbert Volney, who fell out with the UNC over his sacking from cabinet over the Section 34 matter. He resigned from the UNC and was later expelled from Parliament because he was no longer a member of the party on whose ticket he won the seat.

Since 2000 the seat has been held by the UNC except for the 2007 general election when the PNM's Kennedy Swaratsingh won with a minority vote due to the vote splitting between the UNC Alliance and the Congress of the People (COP). In that election the combined opposition won more than 9,000 votes but the PNM won with just under 8,000 votes.

• 2007
• Dr Carson Charles            UNC      4,945 (29.0%) 
• Gillian Lucky                    COP      4,145 (24.3%) 
• Kennedy SWARATSINGH   PNM      7,965 (46.7%)

In the 2010 election there were only two candidates and the UNC won with nearly 11,000 votes.

• 2010
• Kennedy Swaratsingh              PNM       7,778 - 41.8% (-04.9) 
• Herbert VOLNEY                     UNC      10,835 - 58.2% (+29.2)

In 2013 there are going to be five names on the ballot. The ILP claims that it is taking support from both the PNM and the UNC. If that is true the party could erode the support of both parties and possibly win. But if its strength is from the UNC support base, then it could pave the way for an easy victory for the PNM.