Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar says defeated leadership candidate Dr Roodal Moonilal is free to take his concerns over the partys internal election to the election committee and wherever else he sees fit.
She made the comment in response to claims of irregularities in Saturday’s voting, which handed her Team UNC slate total victory over their competitors. Speaking at her Siparia Constituency Office in Penal on Saturday night after being declared the winner, she said the margin of her victory was too great for there to be any doubt.
“I will say to him that those matters are to be raised with the election committee, but it is very hard to see that a resounding victory like this is being questioned. If the results were close in the numbers, then there would be cause for concern but I believe they’re really landslide numbers. It really doesn’t give cause but they are free to raise it with the election committee and where else as they see fit,” Persad-Bissessar said.
Although her leadership of the party was criticised during the election campaign, she called on all members to come together again, saying that the real enemy was not within the party but the People’s National Movement.
“I thank all the supporters who came out and helped us to attain this victory and I say we are still one UNC family. To all my opponents, we belong to the same UNC family, we need to ban together and work together to fight our real enemy and that enemy is the PNM. I invite everyone for us to work together as a strengthened UNC following this election as we go forward in the future.”
Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh, whose Loyalist slate also suffered defeat, said the party would continue as a united team in the Parliament. In an interview at Moonilal’s Oropouche East Constituency Office in Debe on Saturday night, Gopeesingh, who contested position of chairman, said good leaders forget the past quickly.
“This is the Westminster System, the first-past-the-post, and leaders know exactly what to do. A good leader will continue to build a strong team, that is what leadership is about. You have to almost forget the past,” he said.
“We are a unified team. There is no question when it comes to Parliament, we are a Government in waiting. When it comes to Parliament, we are very strong and powerful. They will not beat the United National Congress in terms of its ability to raise issues, to discuss issues, to debate issues, bring the party to the forefront and bring the Government to answer the questions.”
He likened the fractures in the UNC to past rifts in the PNM between Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, former prime minister Patrick Manning and former deputy speaker Penelope Beckles-Robinson. However, when told that those rifts were never healed, he said there will always be winners and losers in politics. As for his criticism of Persad-Bissessar’s leadership, he said, “One knows the weaknesses and the strengths of what went on and therefore that is something that has gone on.”