The *Official* LOCAL Election Thread (2013)

[sMASH]

He showing clips of unc ministers in the field of st Joseph for the bye elections. So far tewari, fazal karim, griffith, sum fellah I can't remember the name

[pioneer]

If I on a sinkin dingy and the Royal Navy offer to save me, am I to stay on the dingy?

[pete]

The other three should vote for the pnm candidate. But then there's no coming back from saying a vote for the ilp is a vote for the pnm.

[bluefete]

There is no honour among thieves!

[bluefete]

Karma is a beyotch.

Jack Warner is getting a taste of his own medicine - UNC style.

[bluefete]

Ah fellah name Faaiq mohammed.
Pundit and priest did opening prayer, for the the borough opening And they organize Faaiq to do on behalf of Muslims.

The other things in the post quote above.

Man get expelled one time from the ILP. Inshan did a real number on him tonight.

[j.o.e]

2.5 million to get control of Chaguanas Reg Corp?...where do I sign up? I'll take my bribe cash please

[pioneer]

Man payin cyash fuh da vigo

[K74T]

Blingments like dat

[pioneer]

I hear he get ah HDC house too

Wha pnm ever gee people besides galvanize?

[zoom rader]

PNM is a funny bunch as they play on the minds of the afro vote. Only when a non a PNM goverment in control there is an improvement on the lifes of afro trinis. Only a few select afro benifit under PNM when the mass majority she hardships under PNM.

As pios said galvanize for PNM

[K74T]

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/TRAITOR-IN-OUR-MIDST-230923401.html
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Councillor-denies-getting-25m-bribe-230923041.html

[Rainman]

Vigo affi jive fadda

[kaylex]

Zoom... wey.. sa..

I wonder if you read over your own comments.????

You a real zealot>>>mY word...

Everything the UNC/PP is well done>>> in your view... my word..

tisk tisk.. its a sad day ..... ignorance is thriving in society.. ...

For a pay day.. people are willing to sell their souls....

[Habit7]

PNM is a funny bunch as they play on the minds of the afro vote. Only when a non a PNM goverment in control there is an improvement on the lifes of afro trinis. Only a few select afro benifit under PNM when the mass majority she hardships under PNM.

As pios said galvanize for PNM

With pios I can excuse him for attempting to troll/be funny. But the sad thing is that you actually believe what you are saying.

[16 cycles]

how many politicians in our history have served jail time for misbehavior in public office?

[Rainman]

how many politicians in our history have served jail time for misbehavior in public office?

Not enough.

[Habit7]

UNC hopes that the young Mohammed would have voted along with them to for every position including mayor. But with the adjournment of the vote, ILP now was able to see UNC's plan and realise that they have lost their equal majority and for spite they can vote with PNM. UNC ends up with egg on their face, ILP ends up with their zero balance like before, PNM runs the cooperation and young Mohammed at least gets his million.

[zoom rader]

PNM is a funny bunch as they play on the minds of the afro vote. Only when a non a PNM goverment in control there is an improvement on the lifes of afro trinis. Only a few select afro benifit under PNM when the mass majority she hardships under PNM.

As pios said galvanize for PNM

With pios I can excuse him for attempting to troll/be funny. But the sad thing is that you actually believe what you are saying.

I have met and talked to alot of afro trinis that have said they are better off that a PNM goverment. You need a UWI paper for that.

[16 cycles]

........ PNM runs the cooperation and young Mohammed at least gets his million.

2.5M from news reports....half before / half after...

[kaylex]

UNC hopes that the young Mohammed would have voted along with them to for every position including mayor. But with the adjournment of the vote, ILP now was able to see UNC's plan and realise that they have lost their equal majority and for spite they can vote with PNM. UNC ends up with egg on their face, ILP ends up with their zero balance like before, PNM runs the cooperation and young Mohammed at least gets his million.

Very interesting way to look at things

[SiR8081]

One set of he say she say that he say she say. A bunch of morons agree on something and suddenly is fact. I prefer to hear what the actual person has to say. Whether it is true or not, they are a far more 'reliable' source.

Independent Liberal Party (ILP) councillor Faaiq Mohammed insists he has not been bought out. He made the comment yesterday during a press conference at his constituency office in Charlieville, hours after the ceremony to swear in a new Chaguanas Borough Corporation mayor collapsed.


He said his decision to support the United National Congress (UNC) nominee for presiding officer—Councillor Vandana Mohit—came as a form of protest over his party’s decision to put forward Falisha Isahak as its candidate for the position in yesterday’s process.

Mohammed said his decision was made because his constituents had made an official complaint to ILP leader Jack Warner that they were not happy with Isahak’s previous representation of them as a UNC councillor and now did not want her representing them for the ILP.

He said the people of Charlieville wanted her to be removed as an alderman and he collected 590 signatures from residents in support of this. He showed members of the media the petition, saying he had been advised by ILP secretary Indrawatee Maharaj to organise a petition after he complained about his constituents’ concerns about Isahak.

Mohammed, however, said his constituents’ concerns fell on deaf ears as Warner failed to act on it. Pointing to page four of the party’s manifesto, which referred to “participatory democracy,” he said Warner did not keep his promise. “The people were against this woman and Jack decided to disregard this petition...He made a promise, I made a promise.”

Mohammed said he went to vote for the ILP during yesterday’s process, but did not know he would have had to vote for Isahak, noting he eventually found out on the EBC Web site that Isahak was being appointed an alderman. He said Warner was waving blank pages at the ceremony earlier yesterday, stating that he (Mohammed) had sold out for $2.5 million.

“He could take it and provide it to the relevant authorities,” Mohammed said, adding he was not afraid of being hounded by ILP members for standing up for the people of Charlieville. “Since I was elected, Jack Warner held a meeting, five minutes, thank you,” Mohammed said, noting he had received word that the ILP planned to expel him.

Saying he now believed the ILP had no future on the political landscape, Mohammed said: “If they continue to neglect the people they will no longer have a party. ” However, he said he plans on remaining an independent candidate until he gets a mandate from his constituents on how to swing his support.

http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2013-11- ... nstituents

[sMASH]

The hardest thing about egg on unc face is that they don't really take it orn dat much

[pete]

And ILP forever gets stained with being PNM. - End of Jack

[kaylex]

Victory for the base, not the country

By Winford James



Story Created: Nov 6, 2013 at 10:50 PM ECT
(
Story Updated: Nov 6, 2013 at 10:50 PM ECT )

So, with the loss of St Joseph, the People’s Partnership has lost again—the fourth loss in a year of four sets of elections: the Tobago House of Assembly elections, the Chaguanas West by-election, the local government elections, and the St Joseph by-election. Why, therefore, while acknowledging the PNM victory, are they signalling to the population that they have won? And why have they also done so after the defeat in the local government elections where they lost six of the 11 corporations they won in 2010?
They are without the intellectual resources of the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) now, but they still have those of the United National Congress (UNC), the Congress of the People (COP), the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP), and NJAC (National Joint Action Committee). The intellectual resources of the COP may be diluted in the arrangement, and those of the TOP and NJAC may be both diluted and muted, but those of the UNC are still rampant and still considerable. So why this strange claim of victory in defeat?
Well, the first thing to note is that it is only the UNC that is making the claim, and not any of the other partners. And the most obvious explanation, which is also the best, is that they in fact constitute the Partnership—they are the ones calling the shots (as they have predominantly done since 2010) and they are the ones who are regarded by the public at large as the real spokespersons of the Partnership. The COP has tried to assert its voice but the latter has mostly sounded as permitted and concessionary. Indeed, with the local government elections rout, it has been stripped of whatever remaining potency and independence it had. As for the TOP and NJAC, the former can’t seem to find its voice after the unforgettable punishment by the people of Tobago in January and its leader can’t be found, and the latter always knew that its voice was mostly decorative and never really pretended otherwise.
The second thing to note is the timing of the claim. It came, not after the Tobago rout, but after Jack Warner’s galling victory in Chaguanas West. The prime minister, secure in her delusion that Warner was on a vanity trip and so could not budge the UNC monolith, far less knock it over, was devastated by the defeat. While Tobago was not a Partnership stronghold, Chaguanas West was, never mind it was not as heartland UNC as, say, Penal/Debe. The claim was therefore far from being ignorant or stupid, though it was clearly absurd. Rather, it was exhalation and relief.
In claiming victory after the local government elections when they had clearly lost six corporations, the UNC leadership were releasing a deep fear that Warner and his ILP could have snatched their tribal heartland from them, and were exhaling out of pure happiness. They had held on to Siparia, Princes Town, Mayaro/Rio Claro, Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo, and Penal/Debe. Let’s replay what Mrs Persad-Bissessar said on that occasion:
“The greatest challenge was in Chaguanas. Guess what: we did not lose. Seeing those results this evening, we have held our base in all our areas. I concede San Juan/Laventille; we never won that, but I’ll tell you what: we won our UNC seats in that corporation.”
According to her lights, the UNC did not lose in Chaguanas. They held their base in all areas, even in San Juan/Laventille. They were victorious because the tribal base had remained loyal. PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar was relieved and ecstatic at the fact!
We can now better understand their happiness over the St Joseph results even though they acknowledged they had lost. They lost by less than 800 votes, and they made it a point that they had crushed Warner and his ILP. They also pointed out that, if the ILP had not entered the contest, they would have taken the votes that went to that party and beaten the PNM. In other words, they had held on to their base in St Joseph! And what a relief it was!
Which brings me to the third observation: there’s no Partnership in the UNC’s relief, exhalation, and happiness after the Chaguanas West debacle. The moment you talk about holding your base, you are no longer talking Partnership language. The moment you celebrate a base-related victory, you are no longer talking Partnership language. It is all UNC. So where is the Partnership?
More than the four consecutive defeats at the polls in one year, it is the end of the partnership in the thinking and acting of the UNC that is the reason why the Prime Minister should call fresh general elections.
Four consecutive rejections should be a persuasive-enough reason, but disintegration of the contract with the people is even more persuasive. The Fyzabad Accord has long moved from the dustbin to the dungheap, Jack Warner (arguably, the lead architect of the Partnership) has broken ranks, and the UNC speaks (and acts) with a separate, independent, and tribal voice.
If you were voted into office as a partnership of parties, and if you have been reduced to taking a tribal (as distinct from a unitary) perspective on the results of not one, but two elections, shouldn’t you do the responsible thing and seek a fresh mandate as a tribal outfit?
How can you govern with a unitary perspective if you are thinking like a tribe?
And, if you really believe in promoting democracy in the country, what regard do you have for the majority that have been relentlessly turning against you if you cling narcissistically to power?
Let’s put the power of your base to the test.
• Winford James is a UWI lecturer and political analyst

[kaylex]

Needed: politics for better governance




Story Created: Nov 6, 2013 at 10:52 PM ECT
(
Story Updated: Nov 6, 2013 at 10:52 PM ECT )

The rather deflated stocks of Jack Warner’s Independent Liberal Party (ILP) as a viable third party have led many to conclude that the next general election is destined to be a two-party race between the People’s Partnership and the People’s National Movement (PNM).
Experience, however, suggests that in politics, 18 months is a life-time. It took just four months for Warner to carry his party from the peak of success in Chaguanas West, to the trough of Monday’s by-election in St Joseph; the People’s Partnership moved from launch to government in just three months; the NAR was launched in February 1986 and formed the government nine months later while the PNM itself was launched in January 1956 and was in government nine months later.
The point here is that, while many portray them as exceptional achievements, overnight parties with overnight success are in fact quite the norm in Trinidad and Tobago. For this reason, therefore, the wiser counsel would be to recognise the fluidity of the political environment, despite the two-way fight that the battle for St Joseph turned out to be.
While the Partnership has claimed the ILP’s loss as a victory for itself, both the Partnership and the PNM should note the low turnout figures that prompted pollster and analyst Nigel Henry to say that people are not 100 per cent pleased with the political options before them. Indeed, Monday’s statistics would suggest that voter satisfaction is nowhere even close to half of that figure.

For these two parties, as well as for the ILP which has declared its intention to review, regroup and remount its challenge, as well as for any other parties that might crop up in the coming months, the challenge is to convince the electorate of their viability for delivering effective governance.
So far, their energies have been spent in demolishing each other in the electorate’s eyes. Given the loss of public confidence in all three parties, as recorded over the course of the past three years, it will take serious effort for them to convince the population that they are capable of meeting the enormous challenges that face Trinidad and Tobago.
It is an open secret that our problems are being papered over by oil and gas money. Trinidad and Tobago is spending historically high sums of money on crime, education, health and social security without achieving the objectives of security, knowledgeable expertise, good health and public welfare.
With the experts having given us just over 20 more years to exploit revenues from oil and gas, based on current estimates of reserves, the window for waste and mismanagement is beginning to close on us. If we are to avoid the doomsday scenario predicted by many, we have virtually no time left for getting our house in order.
The time is now for politics that is prepared to grapple with, and solve the big issues of our time. We can no longer keep kicking the can down the road.

[kaylex]

read/// The second of the two is actually where I am at now...
The first.. regards power laid bare naked... The unc is not going to relinquish power.. regardless of what is spoken.. While i support their the decision to not call general elections.. Are they really even going to attempt to right their wrongs.. Or is it just to control the power they have left>>>

I dont think they care to right any wrongs.. It probably is just about feeding>>>

The latter article.. speaks of the harsh reality ... ,
We are spending more and more in budgetary allocations with almost little to now rturn.. Diminishing marginal utility has long gone... And now we just spend for spend sake .. regardless of the cost to society , the insurmountable debt to the economy ...

PNM grew the nat sec budget probably double in their time with no sizeable returns.. efficiency or otherwise.

The pp can boast of having they largest cabinet and increased laptops and universities..

At what cost.. We feel safer?? Do we have better and efficient svcs? Can you access proper health care? We have laptops.. Has it increased our knowledge base?? Likewise free education .. have we seen any return..

I doh know.. but we headed down deh down down..
no real horizon... just a set of pigs feeding and manipulating ignorant citizens .. like some here on tuner.

[sMASH]

And that is why we need to break this pnm/unc deadlock in this country. They are mainly concerned with keeping their voting bases, because those are sure votes. And there are voting bases because we too blasted racist.
Remove the two major tribal poles and then the swing voters will have the majority say, majority influence, and dem frackers will have no other choice than to come with a new game plan.

[rfari]

And ILP forever gets stained with being PNM. - End of Jack

Correct.
Pnm has to let the animosity brew between ilp and unc for long-term benefits. Best for pnm to stand back and let it play out.
This episode should serve as a lesson to jw on candidate selection and he should go on a recruitment drive now to come out strong for the vote split in 2015

[pete]

Interesting times, not much the PNM can do if the ILP votes for their candidate though