There was a recent editorial that tried its best to devalue and undermine, or underestimate the importance and relevance of that Bridge Constituency of voters in this country, so I wish to take this opportunity to clarify such misleading perceptions.
Yes, our country has two major political parties with powerful bases, and they start any Election with at least 200,000 voters who would never align themselves to any other party, as they would be “UNC or PNM till they dead” or ” born a UNC or PNM and would die a UNC or PNM”, which must be respected and accepted.
However there is that Third Constituency of voters, we call the ‘Bridge Constituency’ comprising those who vote for a party, at that time, on that voting day, based on policies, trust, candidate selection, track history of the party, and belief that the party they stain their finger for, is the best fit, at this time, to develop our country, and this choice can indeed be PNM, UNC, or other parties, if that Bridge Constituency is fed up or has total distrust in the two major parties. The ‘Bridge’ being that link between either main party being in or out of office.
Whenever that Third party rejects any accommodation with those opposed to the PNM, it guarantees a PNM victory by its widest margin, such as 1981[ ONR], 1991[ NAR] and 2007 [ COP], with the usual but accurate line being used, that the ” votes were split”.
On the other hand, whenever there is a strategic alliance with other parties opposed to the PNM, the PNM is easily defeated, as seen in 1986 [ NAR] and 2010[ PP].
Whilst not in any way trying to diminish the strength of the UNC, the facts are that the only occasion that UNC won on its own was because there was no Third party made up of the bridge constituency to ” split the vote”, which was in 2000, and that lasted mere months because a few were upset of Basdeo Panday embracing that Third Constituency to such an extent that they felt marginalized.
This Bridge Constituency continues to increase in numbers, just as the UNC and PNM increases, starting with 91,000 voters in 1981, to 127,000 in 1991 to 147,000 in 2007, and with hundreds of thousands of new voters being eligible to vote since 2007, in the present ages of 18 to 35 years who never had a third choice since 2007, it is obvious that this number would have greatly increased from that 147,000.
It is not known if all, or the majority of those Bridge Constituency voters are supportive of alternative parties to the PNM and UNC, as no scientific poll has been taken in the recent past, but what is factual is the decision made by those Third parties, is what decides the outcome of a General Election, be it a wide PNM victory or massive defeat for the same PNM.
And if anyone is naive enough to believe otherwise, all we need to do is to refer to General Election 2001, when a very small Third alternative party acquired a mere 180 votes in Tunapuna, which played a big part to PNM taking that seat by less than 300 votes, causing the 18-18 result, and for Patrick Manning to be anointed as Prime Minister,
Nothing has changed. A few months ago in the Local Government Election, such similar Alliances resulted in over 60,000 votes more than PNM, and the significance of that Third party and those Bridge Constituency voters was much more than the votes they acquired in those 31 safest PNM seats, but it allowed those same Third Constituency voters in those other 110 seats to come out and vote for the UNC candidate , in the same manner that UNC supporters voted for the NTA candidates in those 31 safe PNM seats.
For anyone to believe that the gap being drastically closed in San Fernando, and increased in Sangre Grande, being solely UNC’s support base, then those persons are only fooling themselves, and the strength of that third Constituency and relevance of those Third parties indeed was glaring in that same Election, as those 31 safest seats of the PNM, which in 2020 LGE, they would have won by 1300 to 3500 votes in most of those seats which makes them very safe seats in terms of Local Government, in contrast, in 2023, most of those margins were reduced to less than a few hundred votes, which could never have been achieved solely by UNC.
Unfortunately, those 400,000 strong base supporters of PNM and UNC, see this Bridge Constituency and Third party, as being beneficial for the Red if they ” split the vote”, as in 1981, 1991, and 2007, and the yellow sees it as being beneficial to them if these Third parties align with them, resulting in annihilation of the PNM, as seen in 1986 and 2010.
So, to those 200,000 strong supporters on either side, as much as we respect you and your political choice, this Third Constituency and Third parties are not established to help one party win an election or to ensure defeat for the other. We are established to simply represent those voters who are not” UNC or PNM till they dead”.
However, a political party is indeed established to get in Government and to win, but as the Third Constituency and being the Leader of one of those Third Political Parties, I would ensure that such success must not be achieved at all costs, and by being devalued or ignored, prior to, or when an Alliance gets into Government.
To ensure a repeat of 1986 and 2010, all it takes is one thing- mutual respect and fully understanding the value of all parties in such an Alliance, and when this is achieved, it is these same Third Constituency of voters comprising 147,000 plus, who would come out and vote knowing that there would not be a repeat of what caused the problems in 2010- 2015.
If these floating Bridge Constituency voters remotely believe that there would be a repeat of what took place in 2010 to 2015, then the election results of 2007 would indeed repeat itself.
You choose.
Gary Griffith