By Caribbean Medical News Staff
After a most contentious and heated election, the People’s National Movement (PNM) Keith Rowley emerged victorious and will be named the new Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Amid all of the celebrations, Rowley didn’t hesitate in calling for all sides to work in unison to get the country out of what he states will be tough times ahead.
Prior to his victory, the PMN leader made the bold prediction that his party would capture as many as 21 seats and would go on to win the general election. However, Rowley did even better than expected capturing 23 of the 41 seats up for contention, while the People’s Partnership (PP) coalition led by the country’s first female Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar took the remaining 18 seats.
In his victory speech at the PNM’s Balisier House headquarters, Rowley said, “Throughout our campaign, we have made it quite clear to the population that these are not times of milk and honey, there are difficult times ahead. There are rapids ahead, there is rough water ahead . . . but if we navigate them successfully, there is calm water ahead.”
“Tonight is the wedding; the wedding is a feast, it is a fete. The wedding is the beginning; it is the living that matters. Let’s live together in harmony.”
While addressing the United National Congress (UNC) – the chief partner in the PP coalition – Rowley vowed there would be no “we versus them” approach.
“We are all in this together. And while we form the government, you of the UNC will form the opposition, but we all expect you to act as a part of the government because your responsibility is awesome. If we accept that we are all in this together, then all of us will come out of our difficulty together,” he highlighted.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar conceded defeat, stating that she had done her best.
“It was not good enough for some people but in my heart I know I did my best,” she told supporters gathered at her Siparia constituency office. “For now, I am happy to be citizen Kamla and MP for Siparia. I respect the wishes of the people and I wish the new government well.”
Despite not winning any seats, Independent Liberal Party (ILP) leader Jack Warner was still ‘euphoric’, saying that his mission to get Persad-Bissessar out of office was successful.
An ecstatic Warner told reporters, “At the end of the day, I made Kamla in 2010 and I broke her in 2015. She will never see another government in our collective lifetime.”
