Now that the campaigns of both the PNM and the UNC have been officially launched for the general election to be held later this year, the society must now brace itself for a higher level of intensity in the manner in which things will be done in the public domain.
It is clear that the PNM has set its eyes on the Mayaro seat by actually launching their campaign there with a walkabout by its leader, Dr Keith Rowley. At the same time, the UNC launched its campaign in San Fernando with the opening of their southern regional office by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
The interesting aspect of both launches was the importance placed upon southern constituencies by both major parties. A PNM launch in Mayaro and a UNC launch in San Fernando suggests that both parties have their sights set on winning southern constituencies as the key to capturing power in the next general election.
If the PNM wins the Mayaro seat, that would suggest that the party is likely to do well in other rural parts of Trinidad. However, this will come up against the rural development programmes that the Government has undertaken over four and a half years in parts of the country that had been neglected by previous administrations. This will become a fundamental issue in the campaign as the Government has been vilified by the Opposition for its development programmes in these parts of the country.
The rural battleground in the deep South, Southwest and Southeast of the country has now become a crucial area for the determination of the outcome of the general election. While the controversy with the Highway Re-Route Movement (HRM) over the highway to Point Fortin has occupied the attention of the media and countless hours, the reality is that it has provided the People's Partnership Government with a political boon.
The urban elites who have embraced the alteration of a mega project for the deep South have, in fact, strengthened the Prime Minister and her Government in that part of the country as well as in other rural parts not in the pathway of the highway itself.
That controversy has created a national debate about dominant elites in the urban North seeking to lecture southerners about the environment in relation to the highway. They may not realise that they have raised the stocks of the Prime Minister and her Government there.
The media campaign on this has been relentless, but as the veracity of the revised position advanced by the HRM is now challenged by the incredulous facts of a man living for more than 100 days without a drop of water and an ounce of food, the attention of the media seems to have been altered.
Included in this debate about the importance of rural constituencies to the overall success or failure of parties in the general election is the argument about whether rural towns are entitled to be regarded as equal partners in national development.
The national conversation has changed. The PP Government has placed emphasis in many areas across the country from north to south, but there has been a backlash in respect of putting these areas on an equal footing with other, more urban, parts of the country.This is a debate that ought not to be underestimated in respect of how the society has changed and it will have an impact in the general election.
While there have been many who scorned certain parts of the country for the resources that were made available to them, it must be remembered that stereotyping is the worst mistake that can be made in calling out the names of communities who have earned some measure of national attention for their plight that goes back several decades.
The psychological adjustment in catering for this means that many of the traditional urban elites who became accustomed to having a natural dominance in the society will obviously be uncomfortable with this shift that has taken place.That is perfectly understandable. But a change of thinking has come.
It will become an issue in the general election. An interesting cartoon on a recent blog showed two people discussing the Valencia Bypass with one telling the other that people are saying that they are living in the South of the country because they got the bypass.In many respects, the Prime Minister has led by example by holding Cabinet meetings in various parts of the country outside of Port-of-Spain, namely San Fernando and Tobago.
Her own example of resisting the temptation to join urban elites in playing golf and being on the cocktail circuit has created a different image.
The PNM is continuing its early screening processes in preparation for an election, which is appropriate, as it can be called at any time. The upside is that early nomination can provide adequate time to work the ground, while the flip side is that the credentials of some candidates can be challenged because of their own words or information not previously known in their background.The campaign has started.