Media reports in Trinidad say first returns from Saturday's internal election of the United National Congress (UNC) indicate that chairman Jack Warner is ahead of his main opponent, Ashwani Mahabir.
However, only a few results are in and the picture could change. The early results also indicate that the persons leading for the three deputy leader posts are Roodal Moonilal, Fuad Khan and Marlene Coudray.
Members of the party voted for 17 members of the party's national executive. The reports suggest that only about 20 per cent of the registered voters exercised their franchise.
The UNC's political leader, PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar voted at the Shiva Boys High School in Debe. She also visited some of the polling stations. Her post was not up for election.
She told reporters she had to vote because it would have been disrespectful not to do so.
"I thought about it, whether I should vote or not and I think it would be disrespectful to ask all my party members to come out to vote and I don’t vote and I am the leader," she said.
There have been some reports that many people were unable to vote because their names were not on the list of electors. However it turns out that many of those who discovered that their names were missing had not renewed their membership and therefore did not qualify to have their names on the list.
Three slates contested the election along with several independents.
The Nationalists slate led by Deputy Leader Roodal Moonilal is favoured to win most of the seats. The majority of its members were on the outgoing executive (NATEX) and were seeking re-election, including Moonilal and his cabinet colleague, Suruj Rambachan, who were seeking to be returned as Deputy Leaders.
Their slate and the other two did not have any candidate for the post of chairman, which was held by Jack Warner in the last executive. The MP for Chaguanas West ran as an independent, asking UNC members to re-elect him on his record. His principal opponent was attorney Ashwani Mahabir.
The third deputy leader, Lyndira Outit, chose not to seek re-election and decided instead to run for the post of vice chair of the party.
However, only a few results are in and the picture could change. The early results also indicate that the persons leading for the three deputy leader posts are Roodal Moonilal, Fuad Khan and Marlene Coudray.
Members of the party voted for 17 members of the party's national executive. The reports suggest that only about 20 per cent of the registered voters exercised their franchise.
The UNC's political leader, PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar voted at the Shiva Boys High School in Debe. She also visited some of the polling stations. Her post was not up for election.
She told reporters she had to vote because it would have been disrespectful not to do so.
"I thought about it, whether I should vote or not and I think it would be disrespectful to ask all my party members to come out to vote and I don’t vote and I am the leader," she said.
"I have not endorsed any slate contrary to rumors or otherwise, I never endorsed a slate, I did not go onto any platform and I wish all those candidates who are participating well," she added.
There have been some reports that many people were unable to vote because their names were not on the list of electors. However it turns out that many of those who discovered that their names were missing had not renewed their membership and therefore did not qualify to have their names on the list.
Three slates contested the election along with several independents.
The Nationalists slate led by Deputy Leader Roodal Moonilal is favoured to win most of the seats. The majority of its members were on the outgoing executive (NATEX) and were seeking re-election, including Moonilal and his cabinet colleague, Suruj Rambachan, who were seeking to be returned as Deputy Leaders.
Their slate and the other two did not have any candidate for the post of chairman, which was held by Jack Warner in the last executive. The MP for Chaguanas West ran as an independent, asking UNC members to re-elect him on his record. His principal opponent was attorney Ashwani Mahabir.
The third deputy leader, Lyndira Outit, chose not to seek re-election and decided instead to run for the post of vice chair of the party.
No comments:
Post a Comment