NTA gets alderman in Diego Martin

NTA leader Gary Griffith said the party had earned an alderman seat on the Diego Martin Borough Corporation thanks to the tally of votes for its candidates in last Monday's local government elections. He told Newsday  the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) had notified him of the alderman position.

Asked who the party might pick, he kept his cards close to his chest in a voicenote to Newsday on Sunday.

"I'm liaising with all the members of the NTA governance team – about 17 people in all – and I'm also liaising with the candidates, the eight candidates who contributed to the accumulation of votes.

"It is to be noted that we did not have a candidate in all ten (Diego Martin) seats. We had candidates in eight of the ten seats.

"Having only eight candidates takes away a big impact towards the selection of aldermen."

In a Facebook statement, Griffith said the NTA has officially created a footprint on the political map by acquiring an alderman position.

Thanking the NTA's 31 candidates, he said the party had been the majority partner in Point Fortin and Diego Martin in its accommodation with the UNC.

"We barely missed out on an alderman seat in Point Fortin," he said, touting the party's success in Diego Martin.

Griffith described the NTA as the third major political party in the country.

"We are very proud of this achievement, and the 16,000 votes we achieved, which is made even more remarkable given that the NTA is barely a year old.

"We dramatically cut the PNM’s winning margins from 2019, in all the areas that we contested, especially in Diego Martin, where (we) reduced margins as high as over 750 to less than 200 votes, hence the reward of an alderman."

He said, the NTA was "now well-placed to build on its monumental achievement, looking to the upcoming general elections where we will convert our 58 per cent combined UNC/NTA vote into a win that will see the NTA being part of the next Government of Trinidad and Tobago."

The UNC is continuing to consult on officials in various municipal corporations after last Monday's local government elections, even as the EBC finalises the aldermen allocations to political parties, it said in a statement on Sunday.

"The UNC would like to inform the public that has been engaged in wide-ranging, democratic consultations with stakeholder groups including MPs, senators, national executive, councillors and community groups to finalise its selections of aldermen, mayors, chairmen, and minority leaders.

"The UNC is also waiting on the EBC to make its declaration of the allocation of aldermen in Arima and Princes Town Corporations to the political parties, numbering eight in total. We look forward to serving the people to the best of our ability and securing TT in the upcoming term of office and beyond."