MSJ: No coalition with PNM, UNC

THE Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) will not form a coalition with either the PNM or the UNC should it win seats that could determine which party forms the government after this year's general election. MSJ chairman Gregory Fernandez made the statement as the party presented four general election candidates to the media at its San Fernando office on Monday.

Political leader David Abdulah will contest the Pointe-a-Pierre constituency, currently represented in Parliament by UNC deputy leader David Lee. The UNC has not yet announced a candidate for Pointe-a-Pierre. Daniel Dookie is the PNM's candidate for that constituency. The other MSJ candidates are Ernesto Kesar (Point Fortin), Rene St Rose and Radhica Galbance (Fyzabad).

Fernandez said if either the PNM or UNC lacked a parliamentary majority to form a government when the votes are counted, the MSJ will not be persuaded by either party to join them to either retain or attain political office.

"We are not going to be part of any coalition."

In June 2012, the MSJ withdrew from the then UNC-led PP government after the PP allegedly failed to address several governance issues raised by the MSJ. Then prime minister (now Opposition Leader) Kamla Persad-Bissessar described the demands raised by Abdulah (then a government senator) to be "impossible, unreasonable and reckless."

Abdulah said the MSJ was seeking to "break the mould" and end the racial/ethnic political cycle which has seen the PNM and UNC trade places between government and opposition in previous elections. He declared that TT has never benefitted when either the PNM or UNC has been in government. Abdulah said, in the Parliament, both parties operate on a system where "winner takes all."

Should the MSJ win seats in the House of Representatives, Abdulah said the party would only provide support to whichever party forms the government "once they do the right thing." Referring to the closure of Petrotrin under the PNM in 2018, Abdulah said the UNC waffled on the issue and did nothing to remedy the situation.

Unlike the PNM and UNC, Abdulah vowed, "We will make the difference."

Reiterating that TT needed "a revolution of the mind," Abdulah said the covid19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement in the US were examples that the world is changing. He said that change is reaching TT and the MSJ is all about promoting meaningful change in governance.

Kesar said he was not going to get involved in political games being played by the PNM and UNC regarding Venezuelan migrants in TT. He said there must be policy which determines the difference between a refugee and a migrant. .

Fernandez did not say what was the total number of candidates the MSJ will select. He explained the announcement of an election date was not a factor being used to guide the party's election strategies.