It’s likely that the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) led by political leader Watson Duke will win some seats in tomorrow’s Tobago House of Assembly (THA) election.
This is according to political analyst Dr Winford James, a Tobagonian, who yesterday said that Duke and the PDP seemed to be on a momentum.
Speaking to the Sunday Guardian yesterday, James said, “It is possible that the PDP will win a few seats. They themselves claim that they might surprise in a few seats come Monday.”
The PNM had a landslide victory at the 2013 polls with 19,919 votes. The Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP), even though it gained 11,927 votes, suffered defeat.
James said his comments were based on issues on the island since there were no polls conducted in the lead up to the election. He said polls were the most reliable basis for prediction.
“I am saying there are two horses in the race now—the PDP and the PNM.”
James said no seat was safe in the THA election if there were two parties.
Since 2013, when the electorate “destroyed” the TOP because of its fear of the United National Congress (UNC) running Tobago and ultimately controlling the island’s marine wealth, he said the population gave the PNM all 12 seats.
“I don’t know that it’s going to be like that this time. The water has flowed below the bridge. The UNC is no longer in power, the economy is not functioning as happily as it used to because of the drastic falling of energy prices and of course, there has always been an anti-PNM constituency in Tobago.”
He said there was talk of disaffection for the PNM and that was related to the length of time the PNM was in control of the THA, the amount of money that they had to manage and very little evidence of the spending of that money for the development of Tobago.