Prime Minister Patrick Manning's ruling People's National Movement (PNM) recorded a decisive victory in the local government elections on 14 July, less than nine months after winning the general elections and ending a protracted political impasse (see RC-02-09). It marked the first time that one of the two main political parties had successfully crossed traditional racial political barriers.
The breakdown. The PNM won nine of the 14 municipal corporations, the opposition United National Congress (UNC) 4, with a tie in Rio Claro/Mayaro. This was a big improvement for the PNM on the previous local government elections, in 1999, which resulted in the parties taking seven municipalities apiece. Of the 126 electoral districts, the PNM won 83 and the UNC 43. The PNM also made inroads into the UNC heartland of Siparia and Penal, and won an historic three districts in the UNC stronghold of Chaguanas. With a margin of 184 votes, Diptee Ramnath gave the PNM a seat on the UNC-dominated Penal/Debe Regional Corporation, a feat no other PNM candidate has ever managed.
The unprecedented swing of UNC voters to the PNM has piled the pressure on UNC leader Basdeo Panday to step down. Panday's image has been tarnished by corruption charges (there is an ongoing investigation into his failure to declare a London bank account holding just under US$1m). He preferred to blame 'the disgusting use of state resources to win elections'.
Crucial swing vote. Manning said that the PNM would reward the former UNC supporters whose backing propelled the PNM to victory. He said that the result showed there was now inter-racial solidarity in the country: 'I believe that it was the first time that a political party in Trinidad and Tobago has been able to cross the ethnic divide entirely on its own efforts and not by way of coalition arrangements,' he said. 'The PNM, for the first time, has representation in every council in Trinidad,' he added.
Low turnout. One cause for concern was the miserable voter turnout; just 35% according to the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC), seven percentage points less than the 1999 local government polls. This could signify that the public is content with Manning's performance since he came to power. It also goes without saying that local government elections nearly always attract much less attention than general polls.
Nonetheless, local commentators have expressed surprise that the UNC failed to attract more support for the central theme of its campaign, rising crime levels and the threat to national security.
Kidnapping. One worrying trend is the sharp increase in kidnappings in Trinidad, with wealthy businessmen being taken and held until ransoms, sometimes in excess of a million dollars, have been paid. The latest kidnap victim shows that the crime is becoming increasingly commonplace: former national chess player, Damien Schneider, 35, was bundled into a car by three assailants in the daylight hours of 13 July.
Kidnappings increased from a total of 13 in 1990 to 226 in 2002, according to the National Security Ministry. There were as many as 65 kidnappings between January and March 2003 alone.
Manning recently forced an anti-kidnapping bill through Parliament, under which kidnapping was declared a non-bailable offence, in an effort to halt the rise.
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