Tobago political parties to host press conference at Rovanel's

The leaders of three of Tobago's political parties are expected to host a news conference, on Wednesday, to discuss the the outcome of a meeting they had on Sunday.

The news conference, scheduled to begin at 10 am, is being held at Rovanel's Resort, Store Bay Local Road, Crown Point.

"The press conference will simply discuss what transpired on Sunday and the directive we received from the people," Ashworth Jack, political leader of the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP), told Newsday.

He declined to provide further details.

Jack, Tobago Forwards leader Christlyn Moore and Hochoy Charles, leader of The Platform of Truth (TPT), met with a group of Tobagonians on Sunday at Rovanel's under the banner of what they are calling the Tobago Liberation and Empowerment Team.

After the marathon session, which began around 5 pm and ended shortly after 8 pm, Moore told Newsday, "Tobagonians have been asking us – us meaning the various political parties in the Tobago space – to mend the fracture that we have created in the political space and to present them with some unity. And this (Sunday's conversation) is one step in that direction."

Asked if they intended to form a coalition ahead of the next Tobago House of Assembly (THA) election, constitutionally due in 2021, Moore said: "I wouldn't say that it is, but what I would say is that this (Sunday's conversation) is us responding to that call."

A minority member of the former People's Partnership government, the TOP was formed in 2008. It contested the 2009 THA election, winning four of the 12 seats in the assembly.

The party later won the two Tobago seats in the 2010 general election but lost its four seats in the 2013 THA election. In the 2015 general election, it lost its two Tobago seats and did not contest the 2017 THA election.

The Moore-led Tobago Forwards, formed in 2014 as a breakaway faction of the TOP, contested the 2017 THA election but did not win a seat.

Charles, a former THA chief secretary and leader of the now defunct Democratic Action Congress (DAC), established the TPT in May 2011.