Kamla: It’s not over

YVONNE WEBB AND CLINT CHAN TACK

Moments after the Prime Minister declared victory in Monday’s general election, UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said she had no intention of declaring defeat.

Unofficial results showed the PNM had retained 22 of its 23 seats and the UNC had gained one more than it previously held for a total of 19 seats.

However, in an address to the media and party faithful at her Siparia constituency office, Persad-Bissessar declared shortly before midnight, “I have no intention to give any concessionary speech.”

She said the party and candidates in three marginal seats will call for recounts “because the numbers are so close. Only then will we claim victory or concede. That’s the way forward for us.”

She told her followers and re-elected MP Barry Padarath, whose Princes Town candidacy had been challenged, that they fought a good fight.

She singled out and congratulated Moruga Tableland winning candidate Michelle Benjamin, who beat the PNM’s Winston “Gypsy” Peters.

Persad-Bissessar said she was somewhat surprised by the results, but assured, “The fight is not over.”

Asked if her campaign strategy would have cost her the prime ministership, she said the party could have done better “but our party has done very well.”

Indarsingh: Kamla

is our leader

UNC Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh said Kamla Persad-Bissessar remains the party’s leader and there is no need for her to step down after Monday’ general election defeat.

Speaking with reporters after the UNC lost the election 22-19 to the PNM, Indarsingh said, “The UNC has one leader. That leader is Mrs Kamla Persad-Bissessar.”

He said the UNC will do a post-mortem of the election but there was no need for Persad-Bissessar to be replaced.

The party is resilient, he said, and took comfort in wresting Moruga/Tableland from the PNM.

He said he did not know of Persad-Bissessar’s announcement that the UNC would challenge the results in three marginal seats.

Asked where things went wrong, Indarsingh said the party had to fight the election in a different way because of the covid19 pandemic.

He remained confident the UNC’s 19 winning candidates would hold the PNM accountable in and out of Parliament.