00:00It's unofficial numbers, but the Point Fortin and La Brea constituencies were won by the UNC with margins of around 300 and 700 votes respectively compared to those of the PNM candidates.
00:13With the exception of the 1986 NAR landslide, the constituencies of Point Fortin and La Brea have never gone to any other party but the people's national movement. So what changed this time around?
00:28Well boy, this is a shock to Point Fortin really because Point Fortin is a stronghold of the PNM form ever since, that's gone and gone point.
00:37But for the past nine years, they wasn't hearing us down here. We was like, we was absolutely like invisible. We always have been invisible.
00:46So it's about time people recognize us and let us see that we are not fools. We are not blind.
00:52From small growing up, mommy always saying, you know, PNM, PNM.
00:56Even when we turned 18, my mother said if we don't vote PNM, we are, you know, come out of your house.
01:03But he said the brother never do good for me now. You know, he helped me.
01:05But I believe that the brother could do better, not just for me, but for my family and even for the people in Point Fortin.
01:12Even when the People's Partnership won 29 seats in 2010, Point Fortin and La Bray stayed with the PNM.
01:19Constituents tell us they were simply fed up of the way the country was going, spiraling crime, unemployment, poor road conditions and more.
01:28Hoping for a change for the refinery to open back, you know, for Point to get back some life.
01:32Because since the refinery has been closed, Point, you get sale to the beginning of the month, end of the month.
01:38And then the rest of the month, you just sit down here like, okay, well, who get pension?
01:43The UNC government will do so much for Point Fortin now because we consider Point that a stronghold now.
01:49We consider a point that a stronghold for the UNC now.
01:52I believe Mr. Kezar going on better Point Fortin.
01:54And here what, Point Fortin going on stay yellow after today. Love and respect.
01:58The UNC's successful Point Fortin candidate, Ernesto Kezar, contested the La Bray seat for the UNC in 2010 and lost.
02:06He fought the Point Fortin seat for the MSJ in 2020 and lost.
02:10He believes a combination of factors led to his victory in Point Fortin for the UNC, this time around.
02:17Kezar says while he campaigned hard on the ground, the closure of Trinman Petrotrin, mass job losses, were key issues.
02:26He pointed out that while in traditionally PNM health electoral districts, voting was low.
02:32In other areas, the UNC votes doubled and tripled to give him a 306-vote victory over the incumbent, Kennedy Richards Jr.
02:42I think where the PNM would have miscalculated this time around, they did not listen to their membership and their concerns about the leadership of the PNM.
02:53That is not my business, so I'm not going to get into that on camera or in terms of the media.
02:58And because of that, we believe that there would have been mass disenchantment.
03:04And because of that disenchantment, this seat, this seat here, became more of a marginal than a stronghold.
03:12In La Brea, the UNC's winning candidate Clyde Elder could not recall exact figures, but said he got over 7,000 votes, while the PNM's Randall Mitchell got just over 6,000, a difference of around 700 votes.
03:27In 2020, the PNM won both seats by margins, exceeding 3,000 votes each.
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