MSJ: Election is a historic moment

MOVEMENT for Social Justice (MSJ) political leader David Abdulah says the result of the April 28 general election represents a historic moment for Trinidad and Tobago.

Preliminary results show the UNC won the election, with 26 constituencies to the PNM’s 13 and two for the Tobago People’s Party (TPP)

In a statement on April 29. Abdulah said the result reflected its view that the PNM should not get a third term in office. The PNM has been in office since it won the September 7, 2015 and then the subsequently on August 10, 2020.

Abdulah said, “The old saying one good turn deserves another. Well, the PNM has not done we the people a good turn. But they got a second turn and blew that chance that the people gave them.”

He added, “ Our lives are worse not better. Every party must know that they do not have a divine right to rule.” Abdulah said TT does not belong to so called “leaders” who see the rest of the society as those who do not count except at election time when their votes suddenly become important.

He added the tremendous mandate and the size of the UNC’s parliamentary majority, presents prime minister-elect Kamla Persad-Bissessar with another opportunity to provide the change the population wants. “We now stand at a historic moment in our country’s development.”

Abdulah hoped the new government will urgently start on reforms needed to change colonial structures of economic and political power.

“These are the structures that are, at root, the cause of so much inequality of wealth and income and ensuring that the people’s voices and concerns are not listened to, far less taken into account in the making of decisions by a government.”

Abdulah said, “This agenda of major reforms is, of course, in addition fulfilling the many commitments and promises that were made during the election campaign relating to providing immediate relief to those who have been suffering from the neo-liberal policies of the PNM.”

He added this is Persad-Bissessar’s second time as prime minister after being out of government for a decade. Abdulah said the 26 constituencies won by UNC candidates, was the largest number the party has ever won. He singled out Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU)/ UNC candidates Ernesto Kesar and Clyde Elder for special praise, for respectively winning the PNM electoral strongholds of Point Fortin and La Brea. Elder and Kesar are former MSJ members.

Abdulah said the last time the PNM lost these constituencies was in the 1986 election which the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) won 33-3.

He also congratulated the TPP, led by Tobago House of Assembly Chief Secretary Farley Augustine, for winning the Tobago East and Tobago West constituencies to firmly establish Tobago’s interest in Parliament. Abdulah said the population deserves praise for the way they voted on April 28.

“We congratulate the citizens of TT for demonstrating a commitment to a better life for all by democratically removing the PNM and creating the opportunity for change.”

The MSJ did not contest the election because it is focusing on rebuilding itself.