While Nicole Dyer-Griffith continues to play coy about her political future, she is quietly attempting to unite the undecideds and forces opposed to the Peoples’ Partnership and People’s National Movement. However, political analyst Maukesh Basdeo contends that a political vehicle must be used, either a united front or a new political party, if Dyer-Griffith intends to translate her united forces into votes.
Yesterday, Basdeo, in a telephone interview, said Dyer-Griffith was trying to harness people who were not aligned to any of the established political parties, and those who were disenchanted with the PNM and the PP. However, he said, for her to translate that movement into votes “you have to identify it in the form of political candidates and so forth and easiest way I see it at this point in time is you have individuals going up as independent candidates and you identify with these individuals.”
This, he said, would be difficult given T&T’s electoral history “as voters tend to identify more with political candidates than independent candidates.” For Dyer-Griffith to achieve her ends, he said, “there has to be a political vehicle, either any of the established political parties that currently exist or the formation of a new political party.” This, he said, would become the means through which she could transform her intentions into a political reality.
He hastened to add a party could be formed in a short space of time since it was just a case of registering a party name and symbol with the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC.) Independent Liberal Party leader Jack Warner, he said, did that last year in the Chaguanas West by-election. Basdeo said if Dyer-Griffith were successful in her unifying thrust she could split the votes and be the spoiler in the 2015 general elections.