UNC is now at its most vulnerable
about 2 months in TT News day
THE EDITOR: The political truism is that the PNM and the UNC both enjoy thousands of dedicated supporters.This will never change. Why? Because base support is attributed to the descendants of the Afro-slave population to the PNM and the Indo-based indentured workers to the UNC.
Both races were treated abominably by the old colonial masters. Race-based politics?
However, today political support has morphed into a crossing of the racial floors. Both the PNM and the UNC enjoy crossover support. We have come too far to turn back but winning an election in TT now calls for deliberate manipulation of the senses of the citizenry.
The PNM was designed by Dr Eric Williams in 1956 to unconditionally embrace all the myriad races of TT, from day one. A political master stroke in a tiny Third World country leading to unbroken support for 30 years.
This letter is about the political vulnerability of the UNC. Why? Because the UNC is open to being used because base support is strongly held in central and south Trinidad where a vast majority of UNC supporters reside.
The UNC, because of our Westminster system of voting, is always in need of more crossover party votes.
The political vulnerability of the PNM is that there is a definite cadre of former prominent supporters/academics who have turned bitter to the core after being side-stepped or ignored.
So, what is the harm to an ambitious UNC hoping to win general election 2025? One cannot assume that outpourings of love from disappointed former PNM card holders will be translated into meaningful votes.
Can the now PNM haters truly draw sufficient votes based on their qualifications as successful historians and financial experts?
May I misquote the illustrious late prime minister Basdeo Panday and former owner/leader of the UNC: TT politics has a morality all of its own.
The proof and the eating of the political pudding will be in 2025.
Calling of an early general election is totally unexpected.
LYNETTE JOSEPH
Diego Martin
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