Leader of the Congress of the People (COP) Prakash Ramadhar says his party has no intention of diminishing its presence in the Government. Responding to questions about seat allocations for the September 7 general election, Ramadhar said the COP would contest all of the seats it did in the 2010 election, including the very contentious San Fernando West constituency.
He said a potential candidate had already been identified for this seat but declined to name the person. It will not be the incumbent MP Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan. The People’s National Movement (PNM) has selected Faris Al Rawi to contest that seat, considered to be a marginal. “Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and I have had several discussions, so it is agreed that all of the seats the COP fought in 2010 we will contest again, including San Fernando West. That is a COP seat,” he told the Guardian.
In 2010, COP contested 13 seats. It succeeded in six: Arima, D’Abadie/O’Meara, Lopinot/Bon Air West, San Fernando West, St Augustine, and Tunapuna . The seven other constituencies were Arouca/Maloney, Diego Martin Central, Diego Martin West, Laventille East/Morvant, Laventille West, Point Fortin and Port-of-Spain South.
In an interview yesterday following the Drug Treatment Court graduation ceremony, held at Prive Restaurant, San Fernando, Ramadhar, who is also the Legal Affairs Minister, was quick to point out that negotiations would continue at the close of nominations (for both the UNC and COP) next Friday, in relation to the quality of the candidates. He said they were seeking to get the best candidates and neither his party nor his partners in the coalition could presume that their respective parties would produce all of the best candidates.