While the STAR Team must be congratulated for their massive victory in the Internal Election polls of the UNC over the weekend, the clear victor is far and away Kamla Persad Bissessar, who once again bravely stuck her neck and reputation out on a limb for the members of her slate, when circumstances did not require her to do so. It is no secret that Mrs. Persad Bissessar remained quite secure in her position as Political Leader until 2025 when her term expires once again, but she still opted to lend her voice to the campaign of the STAR Team, in solidarity with those who have supported her in the National Executive. And when you examine the results, it is clear that the victory achieved was for Kamla and her message of a clean sweep, rather than any individual member of the slate, or the team as a whole.
Comparing this election to the internal election of 2015, there is a clear distinction and message delivered with the votes cast, and that message is that the party membership continues to have full faith and confidence in Kamla Persad Bissessar to take the party forward to victory in the upcoming General Election in 2025. In that 2015 election, while Kamla received a whopping 17,502 votes for her second term as Political Leader, a number unmatched by any candidate in an internal election either prior or since, the next closest candidate was Khadijah Ameen, who was contesting the position of Deputy Political Leader, and who received 15,654 votes, which represents a difference of 1,848 votes. What’s even more interesting, however, is that Khadijah herself received 2,951 votes more than Rai Ragbir, who was the second DPL, and 3,145 more than Wayne Monro who filled out the third slot. As such, while all three Deputies came from the same slate, there was a difference of over three thousand votes between them in the results, demonstrating a clear preference from the members of the party, which incidentally still holds true until today, as Khadijah Ameen received the most votes in the most recent internal election with 13,479.
That said, unlike in 2015 where there was a variation of 4,993 votes between the highest and lowest number of votes received by the individual candidates of the STAR Team, this time, the variance is only 745 votes. For comparison, despite getting far fewer votes than the STAR Team, the United Patriots had a variance of 777 votes, with the most votes going to Deochand Ramjit Singh, who received 4,056 votes, and Rai Ragbir, who received 3,279.
This type of uniformity in the number of votes for the STAR Team therefore demonstrates the renewed trust that the UNC membership has in Kamla Persad Bissessar’s choice of a National Executive team and is the reason that relatively unknown candidates such as Hamlyn Jailal can receive the same amount of votes as his more recognized peers. This bodes extremely well for Kamla as she prepares her general election campaign, as the type of confidence she currently enjoys from the electorate of the UNC is sure to be reflected in the national polls for those who are selected as Parliamentary candidates.
Of course, none of this is to even mention that this most recent internal election had one of the highest turnouts in the history of the UNC, which indicates renewed interest among the supporters of the party as they anticipate a return to government in the coming year. And all of this is a testament to the Leadership of Kamla Persad Bissessar and her STAR Team who have kept the party machinery operating at optimal levels despite being in Opposition for the past nine years, a feat that no other Opposition Leader can boast in the history of this country.
Best regards,
Ravi Balgobin Maharaj
