Archive for the 'UNC' Category

Year of the Fall

Published on December 29, 2013 in General T&T, ILP, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics and UNC. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

By Raffique Shah
December 29, 2013

Raffique ShahPolitically, 2013 will be remembered as the year of unprecedented multiple elections. It was the year that marked the beginning of the demise of the People’s Partnership; the year in which Jack Warner’s meteor burned brightly before it died an unnatural death; and the year that saw the People’s National Movement (PNM), for yet another time, rise, Phoenix-like, from the ashes of defeat, to position itself for a return to power.
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Bas, Ram and Jack

Published on December 15, 2013 in General T&T, Politics and UNC. 11 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

By Raffique Shah
December 14, 2013

Raffique ShahAmong the three of them, Basdeo Panday, Jack Warner and Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj have accumulated 220 years on earth. You would think that these three geezers, having experienced a spread of political permutations, from the crown colony system and colonialism to independence and republicanism, would have also accumulated the wisdom to discern that they have long passed their political-expiry dates.
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‘Democracy-Strengthening’ PR An Abject Disaster

Published on November 19, 2013 in COP, General T&T, ILP, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics and UNC. 2 Comments Tags: , , , .

By Stephen Kangal
November 19, 2013

Stephen KangalIt is now patently clear that the mathematically-challenged eleventh hour imposition of the hapless PR formula based on the infamous 25% threshold without undertaking the requisite public consultations by the PPG has crystallized into a pure, unmitigated electoral disaster that back-fired big time. It consigned thousands of burgesses/ electoral districts to be without representation in their respective local government councils.
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Prove me wrong, PNM

Published on November 17, 2013 in General T&T, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics and UNC. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , .

By Raffique Shah
November 17, 2013

Raffique ShahMuch to the dismay of its detractors, the People’s National Movement (PNM) bounces back like the proverbial bad penny almost ritually every five years since it first lost an election in 1986. In the current political scenario, unless the 57-year-old party shoots itself in the head, the incumbents discover some magical elixir, or a mass uprising, a kind of “Trinidad spring”, occurs and spawns something new and exciting, the PNM will return to power in 2015.
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St Joseph Embodied the National Electoral Psyche

Published on November 11, 2013 in General T&T, ILP, India, MSJ, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, TOP and UNC. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , .

By Stephen Kangal
November 11, 2013

Stephen KangalBeing a classic marginal seat, Monday’s St. Joseph Constituency (SJC) bye-election results have encapsulated and mirrored the psycho-political underpinnings of the changing electoral dynamics as well as of the traditional ethnic moorings impacting on and progressively shaping the national political/electoral psyche- a microcosm of the macrocosm.
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Facing Elections Nightmare

Published on November 10, 2013 in General T&T, ILP, India, MSJ, NJAC, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, TOP and UNC. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

By Raffique Shah
November 10, 2013

Raffique ShahMany readers scoffed at my suggestion in last week’s column that a rapprochement between UNC/COP and the ILP was a strong possibility in the run-up to the next general elections, due no later than August 2015. I imagine diehard supporters on both sides of the divide feel deeply wounded by the abuse their leaders hurled at each other during the three campaigns conducted since Jack Warner broke with the United National Congress (UNC) and formed the Independent Liberal Party (ILP).
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PNM WINS AGAIN

Published on November 5, 2013 in Elections, General T&T, ILP, Media, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics and UNC. 8 Comments Tags: , , , , .

By Andre Bagoo and Clint Chan Tack
November 05, 2013 – newsday.co.tt

PNM WINS AGAINTHE PEOPLE’s National Movement (PNM) candidate Terrence Deyalsingh was last night declared the winner of the St Joseph bye-election, but only after the country was taken to a nail- biting finish for what was expected to be the last election in a historic year.

Deyalsingh’s nearest rival was the United National Congress (UNC)’s Ian Alleyne who, at some points in the night, appeared in the lead. The Independent Liberal Party (ILP)’s Om Lalla managed the third largest share of votes but was not really in the contest.
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Bye-Elections Up-Staged and Politicised Divali

Published on November 4, 2013 in General T&T, Hindu, India, People's Partnership, Politics and UNC. Closed Tags: , , , .

By Stephen Kangal
November 04, 2013

Stephen KangalIt is very disturbing that the St. Joseph bye-election was fixed for November 4 by a Government whose real base is the Divali aficionados. The requisite consideration for the simple and well-known fact that the intensity of the pre-election campaigning would coincide with, distract from and up-stage the well-known calendar of pre-divali centralized festivities and regional/village observances was carelessly not factored into the decision-making scenario.
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Vengeance of Moko

Published on November 3, 2013 in General T&T, ILP, Law, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics and UNC. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

By Raffique Shah
November 03, 2013

Raffique ShahWhen the votes are counted tomorrow night, the St Joseph by-election will bring to closure what may well be the most torturous year in the electoral history of this country. Two scheduled elections—the THA in January and local government last month—and two unscheduled by-elections have left us numb from campaign punishment.
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UNC Lacks Institutional Memory on Vote-Splitting

Published on October 30, 2013 in General T&T, ILP, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics and UNC. 15 Comments Tags: , , , , .

By Stephen Kangal
October 30, 2013

Stephen KangalIt appears that the UNC has no institutional memory relating to the impact of a third force in adversely affecting its electoral performance. Its well-known experience of 2007 and its course correction strategy of 2010 with the COP ought to be very instructive and to determine how it must act to avoid splitting the votes like split peas especially when that third force originates from amongst its traditional base.
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