The biggest winner

THE EDITOR: What a fantastic local government election result. Only in TT we can have an election where everyone won. Almost every participant in the election claimed that they were victorious. Some claim that their few numbers were a sign of greater things to come, that the people were now warming up to their presence. Others are claiming that their presence saved the larger party from defeat. Since this writer asked the people to stay away from voting as their vote can be seen as supporting a poor brand of politics, I suppose that I too can claim victory. In fact, it is possible to claim the biggest victory as close to seventy percent of the eligible voters did not vote.

My ego, however, is not that large as to claim anything from the results. Instead, I prefer to look at the message coming from the population. The figures indicate that compared to the last local general election both major political parties got considerably less votes and the voting population turnout was less than that of 2019. The population is saying that the current brand of politics does not attract them and consequently they are not motivated to vote. The election brought out the core voters of the two major political parties.

The so-called third parties did not make much of an impression perhaps because neither had representation in every area, or perhaps because their message was not what the population wanted to hear. Regardless of the reason, the fact is they did not make the kind of impact that they themselves expected.

So, what is to become of the seven hundred thousand eligible voters who are looking for a way out of despair. For them hope is on the horizon. The good, honest, patriotic, people of TT will come together under one grouping to rescue and rebuild TT. Already, there are political leaders, technocrats, managers, farmers, public servants, and people from every walk of life, every community uniting to not only bypass the two major political parties, but to chart a way forward for TT.

These people of whom I am aware are looking at fixing the constitution with simple things like a fixed date for election and term limits. They are looking at food security, ensuring that every community no matter what is the location is a safe community, they are looking at ensuring that our school prepares our students to be competitive in a changing world. They are looking at making local government almost totally independent of central government with local taxes fines and fees under the control of the management of the local government community.

The people have spoken, and politics of bacchanal is not what would cause the majority to come out and vote. The party that will form the next government of TT would be the one that inspires the majority to hope.

STEVE ALVAREZ

via e-mail