Screening signals

WITH THE completion of the screening of the lion’s share of prospective candidates for the House of Representatives by the PNM, and the UNC now beginning to unveil crucial details of its own slate, the political temperature has risen considerably. The general-election campaign has kicked into a higher gear.

No poll date has been revealed; nomination day remains unknown. And the Prime Minister’s handing over to Stuart Young is still subject to an uncertain timeline on his return from Caricom activities.

Yet the two oldest parties have already used contrasting approaches in selecting possible MPs to send important signals to the electorate.

Balisier House, with its steady disclosure of almost all its nominees as at February 17, has projected stability.

For the PNM, screening is as much about the identities of aspirants as it is about demonstrating it is an organisation following a time-worn process. It wishes to excite with new faces, but in a strong, steady institution. It has selected familiar figures such as Colm Imbert, 67, and Symon de Nobriga, 50, alongside Hans Des Vignes, 39, and Dominic Romain, 40.

At the same time, the UNC has lagged.

Some of this relates to the party’s gestures towards building a team and assembling a “coalition of interests,” with the UNC now making clear the OWTU will select candidates who will contest under its banner, the PEP might tackle northwest Trinidad, and a coalition with the TPP, currently not within the grouping, is not unthinkable after the election.

Much of it, however, is a wait-and-see.

Neither party has yet discussed Senate posts. Nor are they poised to outline the finer details of what might come in their manifestos. The recent spat over dog-whistles in politics was a disappointing reminder that the old is very much alive alongside the new.

Into this mix come smaller, fresher parties.

Such parties are traditionally at a disadvantage in a largely two-party system. However, the impact of Mickela Panday’s Patriotic Front remains a special question.

Ms Panday is both new and old. She is a former Oropouche West MP and, as a daughter of the late Basdeo Panday, has the advantage of being familiar. Her party has unveiled a “first batch” of candidates, including one for Tobago West, and she has been meeting the public in areas like downtown Port of Spain.

This differs from entities led by figures like Gary Griffith, Lennox Smith and Phillip Edward Alexander, who come with complicated baggage or else have records of defeat, unlike the Patriotic Front.

The contours of the race will soon become much sharper.

But through party screening, that race has already generated significant heat and interest, boding well for democracy.

 

The post Screening signals appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.