CASAN­DRA THOMP­SON�FORBES

The To­ba­go Or­gan­i­sa­tion of the Peo­ple (TOP) has elect­ed a new ex­ec­u­tive.The par­ty held its in­ter­nal elec­tions and an­nu­al con­ven­tion on Sun­day at the Rovanel's Re­sort.Eight po­si­tions, in­clud­ing the po­si­tion of gen­er­al sec­re­tary and chair­man, were keen­ly con­test­ed while four po­si­tions in­clud­ing the po­si­tion of po­lit­i­cal leader, were un­op­posed.Pri­or to the elec­tions, in­cum­bent chair­man Stan­ley Baird told par­ty mem­bers the time was ripe to show the coun­try the TOP was able to lead.

"What the TOP has to do now is to demon­strate that it is ca­pa­ble of gov­ern­ing, what is nec­es­sary now is find­ing the team which is able to take it up­ward and for­ward but in or­der for us to do so the TOP has to find se­ri­ous peo­ple for se­ri­ous po­si­tions" Baird said.Baird had a com­fort­able win, re­tain­ing his seat as chair­man with 127 votes de­feat­ing To­ba­go Chan­nel 5 CEO Claude Benoit.The deputy chair­man was won by Reg­is Caruth with 160 votes over Theodil McPher­son's 61.

Four peo­ple vied for the po­si­tion of gen­er­al sec­re­tary with Hen­ry James pulling 93 votes fol­lowed by Cer­ti­ca Williams Orr 49, Ka­cy Roberts 24 and Ian Pol­lard with four votes.The post of as­sis­tant gen­er­al sec­re­tary went to coun­cilor Yvette Parks-Caruth who re­ceived 127 votes over her ri­val Ann Natasha sec­ond with 40.Tra­cy To­bias took the post of trea­sur­er with 110 votes against Dave Ra­hael's 49.Mari­am Cae­sar-Moore is the new elec­tions of­fi­cer, She gained 122 votes over Ter­rence Holmes' 43.The po­si­tion of women's de­vel­op­ment of­fi­cer went to Don­na Parks-Greene who re­ceived 132 votes against Jen­nifer Davis' 33.Oral Fras­er won the post of ed­u­ca­tion and train­ing of­fi­cer with 106 votes over Bene­dict Arm­strong's 59.

Re­sults

Po­lit­i­cal Leader: Ash­worth Jack

Chair­man: Stan­ley Baird

Deputy chair­man: Reg­is Caruth

Gen­er­al sec­re­tary: Hen­ry James

As­sis­tant gen­er­al sec­re­tary: Yvette Parks-Caruth

Trea­sur­er: Tra­cy To­bias

Ed­u­ca­tion and train­ing of­fi­cer: Oral Fras­er

Women's De­vel­op­ment Of­fi­cer: Don­na Parks-Greene

Elec­tions of­fi­cer: Mari­am Cae­sar-Moore

Youth of­fi­cer: Grizel To­bias

Pub­lic re­la­tions of­fi­cer: Ter­rence Baynes

Mem­ber­ship of­fi­cer: Li­onel Cok­er