Kamla Persad-Bissessar will retain UNC party leadership

Dear Editor,
An opinion survey I conducted for the North American Caribbean Teachers Association (NACTA) over the last week, on the UNC internal elections to choose a new national executive committee, shows Kamla’s (Persad-Bissessar’s) slate winning by a landslide.
Guyanese living in Trinidad love Kamla and will vote for her. The election is on November 26.
Concerns were mentioned about the fairness of the electoral process – availability and transparency of the membership list and the elections body itself. It is noted that the ruling PNM and opposition COP faced similar issues when their internal elections were held. And the concern among UNCites goes way back to when Basdeo Panday was leader, including during the January 2010 executive elections when Kamla won by a landslide.
Turnout is projected to be very low because of the one sided-ness of the contest. Kamla is very popular among loyalist members.
Separately, concerns were also raised by voters about whether the UNC can defeat the PNM in the next general election due in three years.
The incumbent party leader has called early (snap) leadership election one year ahead of schedule. Kamla’s slate is projected to make a complete sweep of executive posts in the national executive internal elections in which only party members can vote. But while, like Kamla, party members as well as supporters say they are not pleased with the composition of the slate and the performance of the opposition party, they do not view the incumbent UNC executive and several of its MPs as a viable alternative government in the waiting to replace the ruling PNM with which there is widespread disenchantment.
The survey interviewed voting members, supporters of the party (Peoples’ Partnership) , as well as PNM supporters and swing (non-aligned) voters to determine their views on the outcome of the UNC party elections. The opinion poll was conducted by Dr. Vishnu Bisram.
Based on the findings of the interviews, every respondent said Kamla would win almost all of the votes for leadership against challenger Christine Newallo Hosein.
Supporters of both the PNM and the UNC do not show much interest in the UNC national executive election. UNC members are also not enthusiastic about the executive elections, with turnout projected to be very low. They do not feel there is a need for snap leadership elections, because the leader has not been facing any leadership challenges.
The survey’s findings among voting (party) members reveal Kamla has long coattails — her slate of candidates is projected to register wins in all of the executive posts. However, if Kamla were not in the contest, it is widely felt that her slate would have faced a serious challenge by a credible slate.
The poll shows that Kamla herself would garner the most votes among all candidates. However, party members are not confident that her winning slate can take the UNC to victory in the next general election. UNC supporters and swing voters do not feel the make-up of the UNC is sufficiently attractive to win enough crossover electoral support to eject the PNM from office come next election.

Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram