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  • 2 years ago
With less than a month to go before more than 15,000 voters get another chance to choose their local government councilors, candidates filed their nomination papers Friday morning.
Two by-elections are due on June 17th, one being the Lengua/Indian Walk seat, which ended in a tie at the last election.

Reporter Cindy Raghubar-Teekersingh was in Princes Town where the EBC’s presiding officer accepted nominations on Friday.

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Transcript
00:00 "Every vote counts and no other district knows that more than Lengua Indian Walk.
00:07 It's the seat within the Princess Town Regional Corporation that ended in deadlock in the
00:12 August 14, 2023, local government election.
00:17 After two recounts and a court ruling, it was concluded that the PNM's Otley Grantham
00:22 and the UNC's Nicole Gopal each received 1,428 votes, the reason for the June 17, 2024, by-election.
00:33 Both candidates were re-selected by their parties to contest the second round.
00:39 On Friday, candidates filed their nomination papers at the Princess Town East Secondary
00:44 School.
00:45 "We concentrate on water, lice, roads, such as employment for many of our young persons
00:51 and so forth, try and bridge the community, bring them together.
00:54 We are going to do it and I'm going to do it again with great enormous strife for the
00:58 People's National Movement, who I proudly serve and will continue to serve."
01:03 Lengua Indian Walk is one of 10 electoral districts within the corporation, all others
01:09 are UNC-held.
01:12 And while this particular seat's last councillor was also UNC, a candidate that won by just
01:18 over 290 votes in 2019, in 2016 the seat was held by a PNM candidate who got 210 votes
01:28 more than the UNC.
01:30 Local Government Minister Fares Alrawi says having a PNM councillor in an otherwise UNC-controlled
01:37 corporation has advantages.
01:39 "It means that targeting is much better, particularly where the line ministry is in
01:44 the opposite colour.
01:46 So it allows for us to have a connection which will probably yield a much better result."
01:54 While the PNM came with fanfare, the UNC said it opted for quiet support since CSEC exams
02:01 were taking place at the location.
02:04 The candidate says while she still feels cheated that the special ballot, which was in her
02:09 favour in the last election, was rejected due to the absence of the returning officer's
02:14 initials on it, she's confident that the margin will be clearer this time around.
02:20 "I felt like I was held hostage, but I want to tell the entire country this time we're
02:28 going to bring home a clean vote, a clean cut to win, and we will not have a reason
02:34 to head back to polls or to the courthouse."
02:37 The MP for Moruga Tableland believes the tie will move voters to come out in greater numbers
02:44 on June 17th.
02:45 "The residents felt cheated because it was a clear-cut UNC vote, so persons are more
02:51 motivated to come out now.
02:53 Even with the council not meeting and with the added water problem in the district of
02:58 Lengua Indian Walk, persons know the value of having someone seated in the council bringing
03:04 representation to the area."
03:06 Lengua Indian Walk will also see an independent compete for the seat.
03:11 Peterson Morales, an electrical technician, says a tie proves that people want another
03:17 option and he plans to give them a good one.
03:22 Sindhi Raghuba Tika Singh, TV6 News.
03:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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