Chester Sam­bra­no

The Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) has strong­ly con­demned the re­cent ap­point­ment of Stu­art Young as Prime Min­is­ter, call­ing it an “as­sault on democ­ra­cy” and an “un­law­ful act of des­per­a­tion.”

In a press re­lease, the op­po­si­tion par­ty ac­cused the rul­ing Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) of at­tempt­ing to hold on­to pow­er through “de­cep­tion and ma­nip­u­la­tion.”

The UNC al­leges that Young’s ap­point­ment, which comes ahead of the up­com­ing Gen­er­al Elec­tion, is a strate­gic move by the PNM to cre­ate an il­lu­sion of change while re­tain­ing con­trol. Ac­cord­ing to the op­po­si­tion, this de­ci­sion does not re­flect the will of the peo­ple, as it by­pass­es the de­mo­c­ra­t­ic process of a gen­er­al elec­tion.

“This is noth­ing short of a bla­tant dis­re­gard for the Con­sti­tu­tion,” the UNC stat­ed. “The PNM is mere­ly reshuf­fling the same deck of fail­ures, hop­ing to con­vince the elec­torate to ‘give them a chance’ to con­tin­ue their mis­man­age­ment and de­struc­tion of our na­tion.”

The op­po­si­tion al­so crit­i­cized the ap­point­ment of Camille Robin­son-Reg­is, ar­gu­ing that it does not sig­nal any re­al change in gov­er­nance. “This is not a new di­rec­tion; this is a sink­ing ship scram­bling for lifeboats,” the state­ment read.

The UNC em­pha­sized that de­spite the coun­try re­main­ing in a state of emer­gency, the right to vote re­mains in­tact. They urged cit­i­zens to ex­er­cise their de­mo­c­ra­t­ic right and re­move what they de­scribe as an “op­pres­sive regime.”

“The PNM has stripped cit­i­zens of their rights, but there is one right they can­not take away—the right to vote,” the UNC as­sert­ed. “And the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go will use that right. They will vote out this op­pres­sive regime and vote in a UNC gov­ern­ment—a gov­ern­ment that will re­store their rights, re­build their fu­ture, and move this coun­try for­ward.”