THE EDITOR: Congratulations to the UNC and their coalition partners on their victory in the general election of 2025. The voters, both in Trinidad and also in Tobago decided it was time for a change in governance after the almost ten years of PNM at the helm. This is democracy at work in TT.

Having had time to digest the overall results of the Trinidad leg, it was indeed surprising to see the flipping of several seats previously controlled. Both parties over the years, have been re-imaging their national appeal to attract all races of society.

It is very hard to beat the UNC in their stronghold seats, some of which they have been occupying for decades. This is simply because the UNC core base does not budge/swing when it comes to supporting their party at election time; whether good or bad. The same cannot be said of the PNM base which has a higher percentage of swing voters. When we look at the victories of past political parties over the PNM namely NAR, UNC/Peoples Partnership and today with the UNC coalition, the incumbent PNM lost their black vote support eventually being defeated.

In this election, the haemorrhaging of the voters’ support was extremely bad for the PNM; some didn’t even vote. When you view the recent UNC victory celebrations at the respective compounds of seats wrested from the PNM, most of the celebrants were of African/mixed race with the majority being swing voters.

It would be incumbent on the UNC to keep hold of this swing voter base if they are to survive. The record would show that after one term of office, the NAR and the UNC/Peoples Partnership respectively lost their national elections for a second term to a regrouped and re-energised PNM. This was due to that same swing vote group returning to the PNM to satisfy their political appeals.

The population now waits to see how the UNC would govern given another chance. The party has learnt from the previous governance stints they had and mistakes made in the past should not be repeated. It would be appealing to the nation if the composition of the cabinet/government reflects the multi-ethnicity of our TT which would be comforting to all in the years to come.

The UNC has to show the population that “when UNC wins, everybody wins.”

via e-mail

Gary Watche

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