PNM hopes to take Tunapuna/Piarco with ease

Former chairman of the Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporation Paul Leacock said the PNM would make a clean sweep in the Tunapuna/Piarco district.

Leacock voted at the St Pius RC School in Lopinot a little after 8am on Monday.

He told Newsday the voting process was smooth and he was confident the PNM would retain its seats with ease.

He said, “We have done the work and like our other members, we are ready to accept the result, but we will continue to do what it takes to provide for the people.”

Leacock assisted his twin sister Paula into her wheelchair from their car and into the polling station to vote.

UNC candidate for Aranguez Amit Sooknanan said he is confident his efforts to bring comfort to the people in his area have won him more votes in this election. After voting at the Aranguez North Secondary School, he said he is ready to serve another term.

In 2016 he won with 3,678 votes, while the PNM's Ashmeed Mohammed walked away defeated with 800 votes. He told Newsday, “The only prediction I have is, the number of votes will rise from the last local government election."

Sooknanan, who is also chairman of the St Joseph UNC executive said he asked for the officers at some polling stations to change the stamps after there were some minor issues.

“They were asking people to double-stamp in the box. So not to encourage any room for slips to have spoiled ballots, the stamps were changed.”

At the Febeau Government School in San Juan, Minister of Community Development, Culture and the Arts Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly arrived at 5.55am. She was one of the first voters in the San Juan West district. She described the process to Newsday as smooth right after leaving the polling station.

Very few voters trickled into the polling stations in the area during the morning.

When voters were asked if they had any problems with the process, most said no. There were no long lines or traffic at the stations from San Juan up to the Tunapuna districts.

One man, at the Aranguez North Secondary School, told Newsday there was a small mix-up by the EBC. He said he was sent to another polling station a short distance from where he usually votes. He said at the new polling he was told he was not registered to vote there and was sent to back his original polling station.