Donkey logic on local govt elections results

THE EDITOR: Now that the local government elections are over, some of the james-come-lately political analysts are still in the media trying to get it done for the PNM. Some of the logic being applied quite frankly amounts to donkey logic.

When a ruling party spends millions to woo voters and still loses the popular vote by 40,000, that can only be described as an embarrassing failure.

The PNM fought hard to win Siparia and Sangre Grande with the small change from the last ten-car raffle. So it spends millions to tell us it’s getting it done, then fails to even get that done. To then claim victory is more than perplexing.

The PNM didn’t lose, but it didn’t win. That is the noteworthy point.

After generations of rum-and-roti/bake politics, the people who came out to vote must be congratulated. Many stayed in their colour zones but in some areas like Sangre Grande, Siparia and San Fernando, citizens put water in PNM eyes with their index fingers.

It must have been a tough decision after thousands of job losses, high prices, increased taxation and an effective wage freeze for public servants. Yet we were beseeched to vote for the privilege of paying a property tax.

Cambridge Analytica was raised as a yellow herring, despite our learned AG advising that we had no right to privacy. Every night was about how much the UNC “tief.”

The country has no money but the PNM can flaunt its wealth by buying time repeatedly on every media house in the country? Clearly we are not all foolish in this republic.

So who fights local government elections like a general, loses ground and then boasts that if it was a general election it would have won? Only a political neophyte would argue that on the eve of a general election this poll wasn’t a referendum. It has confirmed the electability of the UNC much to the chagrin of the doubting analysts.

In panic mode, the Government has suddenly found 4,000 food cards to add to the light bulbs and water tanks. A new initiative is coming, this time using state funds to tell us again that the PNM is getting it done. Father help us!

The local government elections were no lifeline for Kamla Persad-Bissessar since her leadership was never in doubt. Rather it has given Keith Rowley and Rohan Sinanan a head’s up. That is the real lifeline. I am sure Sinanan has suddenly realised that the “dishonest” Indians outside the PNM have a vote too.

Also, even when UNC Indian rejects like Partap are “sanitised” by “Mother Camille,” they have no political value. The PNM has nine months to deliver an election baby. Will it be stillborn?

ANDREW CROSS

Tacarigua