Trinidad govt turned out

Press, 17 December 1986, Page 10

Trinidad govt turned out

NZPA-Reuter Port of Spain The opposition National Alliance for Reconstruction (N.A.R.) won a landslide victory in yesterday’s Parliamentary elections in Trinidad and Tobago, ending 30 years in power for the ruling People’s National Movement (P.N.M.). With over 70 per cent of the vote counted, the N.A.R. had won 20 of the 36 Parliamentary seats — including that of the Prime Minister, George Chambers, in the St Ann’s East district — and was leading in another seven. The P.N.M. had won only three seats.

“It’s like a dream come true, a wish fulfilled,” said the Parliamentary leader of the N.A.R., Nizam Mohamned. The N.A.R. candidate for Port of Spain South, Theoddre Gugrra, celebrated outside his headquarters. “This is a blow against corruption, vice and immorality,” he said. In polls before the elec-

tion. the N.A.R. was favoured to win by 60 to 35 per cent. Among those conceding defeat was the Industry Minister, Wendell Mottley, who .lost his seat to the N.A.R. candidate, Carson Charles, by more than two' to one.

“I wasn’t expecting a swing of this magnitude across the country,” Mr Mottley said on television.

During the five-week campaign, the P.N.M. turned to blacks, its traditional supporters, to rebuild its dwindling support in the polls. Blacks and Indians each make up 42 per cent of Trinidad’s 1.2 million people. The rest are Europeans, Chinese and Lebanese.

The N.A.R. campaigned on a ticket of change, an end to racial conflict and criticism of the P.N.M.’s handling of the economy. The P.N.M., founded by the late Eric Williams, has enjoyed 30 years in power in the former British colony.