UNC supporters are disappointed with the party’s performance in Parliament, according to a mid-January NACTA poll.

The North American Caribbean Teachers’ Association, a New York-based research and polling group, has been conducting polls in the Caribbean, New York and India since 1992.

The survey said party supporters are of the view Kelvin Ramnath or Dr Roodal Moonilal would be far more effective as party whip than Ganga Singh.
Moonilal and Ramnath are both founding members of the UNC, while Singh joined the party in 1995.

The poll also showed supporters want leader Basdeo Panday to step down, but are convinced this is unlikely to happen.

“UNC supporters are not holding their breath for leadership change in the UNC any time soon, and they do not see the current forces in the UNC as having the electoral appeal to dislodge the PNM from office,” the poll said.
“Hence the majority of UNC supporters are convinced the PNM will not only remain in Government at least for the next 10 years, but also increase its number of seats in Parliament.”

Regarding the upcoming Local Government election, the NACTA poll said: “Traditional UNC supporters are convinced Patrick Manning will remain as Prime Minister for the next 10 years and the PNM will also sweep the upcoming Local Government election.”

The survey also found while a majority of UNC supporters want Panday to leave local politics, many traditional PNM supporters (a larger number than UNC supporters) want Panday to remain viewing his leadership as a PNM asset.