Lost PNM seats: San Fernando West, Faris in trouble?

DEPUTY political leader of the United National Congress (UNC) David Lee has said the loss of ground the People’s National Movement (PNM) suffered in San Fernando is an indication that “Faris Al-Rawi’s seat is in trouble.”

The PNM lost three seats in the San Fernando City Corporation (SFCC) to the UNC. All three s are in the San Fernando West constituency. Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi is the San Fernando West MP.

Lee agreed with Al-Rawi that the closure of Petrotrin and retrenchment of oil workers was a factor in the loss of seats in the fenceline communities of Vistabella South/Marabella and Marabella East. But he said the real reason for the PNM's loss was that “people are really fed up of this government.”

“Marabella is a ghost town and people are crying out for work.”

Lee, MP for Pointe-a-Pierre, said Al-Rawi had to be joking when he also attributed the loss to the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) taking some PNM votes.

He countered, “The MSJ just got about ten votes. The UNC candidate, Kern Ramdhin, won the Marabella East seat by beating PNM candidate Arnold Soogrim, who has been here for the past six years, by over 300 votes.

“Mickyle Calliste, who contested the Marabella West electoral district for the UNC, lost by just about 83 votes."

This was another heartland San Fernando West area, he said.

“Look at Marcus Girdharrie, who beat Phillip Montano in the Vistabella South/Marabella district so convincingly, with approximately 200 votes.

"That is heartland San Fernando West. This area comprises predominantly middle-class people.

“When you look at the Les Efforts West/La Romaine district in Gulf View, that is also heartland San Fernando West."

He concluded: "This says to me that Faris Al-Rawi is in trouble and San Fernando West seat is in trouble."

In an interview with Newsday on Monday night after the polls closed and results were declared, Al-Rawi said he is fairly confident

He said winning the marginal seat in 2015 was easy.

“My difficulty was not to win the seat in 2015, it is to keep the seat.”

He said lots of positive things had been on the horizon for the past three to four years and are being delivered right now. San Fernandians, like most people, he said, prefer to see the optics before they start to believe.

Al-Rawi said he remains confident and the amount of work done by the PNM and the projects long in the making being delivered gave him a sense of hope.

“As MP for the area, I feel fairly confident as to where I am. I am confident as the MP in a re-election campaign. This litmus test is pretty much where I expect it to be.”

The LGE was a yardstick to gauge the response of the electorate in the 2020 general election, he said,

He denied that he took constituents for granted, but acknowledged there is still a lot of work to be done going into the 2020 general election, which the Prime Minister said will be held in the next nine months.

“San Fernando is still a marginal seat. We always knew that.

"Bring it on. I am ready to deliver on my side.”