Anna-Lisa Paul
Minutes after declaring that St Augustine had been won by the United National Congress (UNC) last evening, Deputy Political Leader Khadijah Ameen warned her burgesses that while the first leg of the battle had been won, the hard work was now about to begin.
Arriving at the head office at Freeman Road, St Augustine, around 9 pm, Ameen was met by a large crowd of supporters who lined the road and warmly embraced her as the sound of tassa punctuated the quiet night.
Even though the final number of votes had not yet been received up to 10 pm, initial figures indicated that by 10.10 pm, Ameen had secured 9,582 votes as opposed to the People’s National Movement’s (PNM) candidate Renuka Sagramsingh-Sooklal who had netted 3,124 votes at the time.
A check at that time revealed the political leader of the Congress of the People (COP) Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan had secured 140 votes; the Progressive Empowerment Party’s (PEP) Maurice Downes had garnered 191 votes; and the Trinidad Humanity Campaign’s (THC) Marcus Ramkissoon had netted 25 votes.
Greeting everyone as she entered the compound, Ameen took time to speak with each person who had turned out to celebrate her victory.
Proud of her team for fighting a clean campaign, Ameen said, “We fought an election based on what we planned to do for St Augustine and what we plan to do for T&T.”
Ameen said they had not engaged in attacking any opponents because she had been confident of winning and knew that they would have to work with all the residents of the constituency thereafter.
Vowing to serve the people of St Augustine, Ameen said, “We have a lot of work to do. If you think the campaign was bad, wait for the next five years.”
She called on the residents to join hands with her to develop and improve the area going forward.