To­day is Nom­i­na­tion Day for the two lo­cal gov­ern­ment by-elec­tions which will be held on June 17.

Can­di­dates fil­ing nom­i­na­tion pa­pers promised to be close to their com­mu­ni­ties and serve their con­stituents well.

Wav­ing flags, ban­ners and the sig­na­ture balis­er, PNM sup­port­ers marched through the streets of Pe­nal this morn­ing to the rhythm of tas­sa drums as PNM can­di­date for Lengua/In­di­an Walk, Aut­ly Granthume, filed his nom­i­na­tion pa­pers at the Princes Town East Sec­ondary School.

He told Guardian Me­dia he is de­ter­mined to make a dif­fer­ence in the lives of his con­stituents.

“We have kept in touch with our peo­ple,” Granthume said.  “Fur­ther­more, we have en­quired of peo­ple what their ba­sic needs and oth­er needs are.  We al­so have iden­ti­fied their spe­cial needs and have al­ready be­gun on that jour­ney to pro­vide good ser­vice.”

Sarah Sookdeo, UNC candidate for Quinam/Morne Diablo. [Image by KRISTIAN DE SILVA]

And UNC can­di­date for Quinam/Morne Di­a­blo, Sarah Sookdeo, al­so filed her nom­i­na­tion pa­pers.

She promised to al­ways be avail­able to con­stituents and to pro­vide the nec­es­sary sup­port.

“We in­tend to make lo­cal gov­ern­ment dif­fer­ent by be­ing more vis­i­ble in the area,” Sookdeo said, “at­tend­ing to the needs of the peo­ple, and meet­ing with them more of­ten.”

Guardian Me­dia un­der­stands that for­mer UNC coun­cil­lor Hy­acinth Ram­per­sads­ingh has switched sides to the PNM in a show of sup­port for the PNM's Quinam/Morne Di­a­blo can­di­date An­der­son Nanan.