RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

As the UNC pre­pares for the gen­er­al elec­tion, can­di­dates screened for cru­cial seats re­main on alert, await­ing their fate.

Among them is Rush­ton Paray, who was screened for the Ma­yaro seat along with for­mer UNC youth leader Nico­las Mor­ris, and chair­man of the Rio Claro/Ma­yaro Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion, Ray­mond Co­zi­er.

Al­though he re­ceived wide­spread sup­port in his con­stituen­cy, par­ty in­sid­ers sug­gest Paray may not get the nod and Mor­ris is be­ing favoured for the Ma­yaro seat.

Ani­ta Haynes is al­so ex­pect­ed to be re­placed, with Sean Sobers emerg­ing as the like­ly choice for her con­stituen­cy.

Both Paray and Haynes have been vo­cal in call­ing for change with­in the UNC, a stance that has put them at log­ger­heads with the UNC ex­ec­u­tive led by Per­sad-Bisses­sar.

The de­lay in an­nounc­ing can­di­dates has fu­elled spec­u­la­tion and con­cern among sup­port­ers, but Per­sad-Bisses­sar and UNC Chair­man Dave Tan­coo in­sist that prepa­ra­tions are mov­ing for­ward to get the best pos­si­ble can­di­date.

Paray sought to re­as­sure UNC sup­port­ers, stat­ing: “The lead­er­ship is ful­ly aware of the ur­gency of the up­com­ing gen­er­al elec­tion and the need to present a cred­i­ble al­ter­na­tive to the coun­try. As far as I am aware, prepa­ra­tions are on­go­ing, both at the na­tion­al and con­stituen­cy lev­els.”

He added the in­ter­nal work—screen­ing, pol­i­cy de­vel­op­ment, ground mo­bil­i­sa­tion—is ac­tive­ly pro­gress­ing.

“Peo­ple are anx­ious for change and want to see the UNC ful­ly mo­bilised and vis­i­ble across the coun­try. The de­lay in nam­ing a full slate is caus­ing some frus­tra­tion on the ground, and that is un­der­stand­able as well. But that be­ing said, the se­lec­tion of can­di­dates must be han­dled re­spon­si­bly,” he added.

“It’s not just about fill­ing slots but iden­ti­fy­ing in­di­vid­u­als who can win, who can serve, and who are ready to take on na­tion­al re­spon­si­bil­i­ty ahead. Al­though the process takes a bit longer to get it right, then so be it. The par­ty’s lead­er­ship must be mind­ful that time is tight­en­ing, and mo­men­tum mat­ters. The pub­lic wants a se­ri­ous al­ter­na­tive to the PNM, so these con­cerns should be tak­en se­ri­ous­ly.”

Po­lit­i­cal an­a­lyst Dr Hamid Ghany, not­ing the stag­gered na­ture of can­di­date an­nounce­ments, said: “I re­al­ly can­not spec­u­late on the rea­sons why the nam­ing of can­di­dates is be­ing han­dled on a stag­gered ba­sis. I note that a meet­ing is card­ed for Thurs­day. Per­haps more can­di­dates will be named then.”

But a UNC source said dis­con­tent was brew­ing among the par­ty’s grass­roots sup­port­ers.

Mem­bers of the UNC’s La Brea con­stituen­cy ex­ec­u­tive re­signed in protest over what they saw as the sidelin­ing of long-stand­ing par­ty mem­bers. The Diego Mar­tin UNC con­stituen­cy has al­so been hit by res­ig­na­tions.

MPs Dr Rai Rag­bir and Di­nesh Ram­bal­ly have both been out­spo­ken about the need for re­form with­in the UNC. In March, Ram­bal­ly, the Ch­agua­nas West MP, with­drew his can­di­da­cy, cit­ing con­cerns over the UNC’s in­creas­ing­ly “di­vi­sive racial rhetoric as its cen­tral mes­sage.”