Alexander: PEP set to win 28 seats

Progressive Empowerment Party leader Phillip Alexander is confident his party will win all of the 28 seats it is vying for in Monday's general election.

He said the fact that the North American Caribbean Teachers Association (NACTA) poll did not predict a clear winner showed the population is ready for the change that his party hoped to bring.

“What we are witnessing is literally the hand of God in this election. This is not a normal election, a normal year, a normal response from the people of TT. The people are fed up of the current political dispensation. We are experiencing an excitement on the ground and we believe Monday is going to be a political earthquake in this country.”

The NACTA poll, released on Friday, said research has found a very close race in several seats deemed marginals. St Joseph, Moruga/Tableland and La Horquetta/Talparo are simply too close, the polls said. The latest tracking survey in Trinidad was done from last Saturday, with 740 likely voters dispersed in the marginals to reflect the demographic composition of the population.

Asked to comment on the poll, Alexander said: “This is such a highly unusual election year that not even the highly professional predictors are willing to make a prediction. People are taking back their bet money and taking back their position. All who was thinking it was one way are now realising that there are more wild cards in this race and things can be a lot more different than we even anticipate. We are hoping on in faith for a clean slate of our 28 candidates and we stand ready to respond to that call.”

NACTA said both main parties – the UNC and PNM – have lost some support.

Because of the covid19 restrictions, parties which would have held final rallies on Saturday opted for nationwide motorcades. Both PNM and UNC traversed the East-West Corridor. On Friday, Dr Rowley toured the Diego Martin South Community Centre, the Diego Martin Girls' RC School and the Diego Martin Health Centre. On Saturday, he drove around in a motorcade, rallying supporters to vote on Monday.

Alexander, the PEP candidate for Diego Martin North/East, also made a final appeal to voters. “Put aside the politics of the past. Those who are jaded, become excited again, those who were conned into voting race remember at the end of the day we are all people under one flag. It is time to come together and work as one to save TT and the best way to do that is to vote PEP.”