Congress of the People political leader Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan has voted for another political party. She cast her ballot after midday on Monday at the San Fernando Methodist School in San Fernando for the Springvale/Paradise seat, contested for the UNC, PNM and the Movement for Social Justice.
Once a member of the UNC and later the People's Partnership government, Seepersad-Bachan told reporters that there was no Partnership.
"That formula we envisaged when we joined was that it would be a coalition but that did not materialise. What we had was a dominant party in the Partnership," she said.
She admitted, however, to having talks with other emerging parties before deciding which seat her party would contest.
"Coalition politics is still relevant to T&T and that is why we had an arrangement," Seepersad-Bachan explained, adding that her arrangement was not with the PP.
"The Partnership ended some time ago. It failed and there is no Partnership. The country will not go for that kind of formula again. That formula is outdated, it did not work. Many saw it as a failure. The Partnership failed in my view in terms of moving forward with the politics in T&T," she said.
Seepersad-Bachan added that even though the COP had no candidate for Springvale/Paradise, she was compelled to exercise her civic duty by voting for another party.
"I have to exercise my democratic right. As we always tell people, we should not disenfranchise ourselves," she said.
As to which party got her vote, Seepersad-Bachan said, "There were three candidates. I will leave it there. Voting is confidential right? Isn't it? Who I support will be confidential. I am hoping that people will see there is an alternative that could change the political landscape," she noted.
Seepersad-Bachan said the COP did not field a candidate for Springvale/Paradise.
"We had discussions with other parties and we did not field candidates in this area. Going forward, there will be more unity among the emerging parties once we share that common vision and philosophy. We have been outlining and detailing our plans in terms of how we are changing T&T."
Seepersad-Bachan said voting went smoothly and only one incident was reported to the COP.
In the Curepe area, a UNC candidate had placed paraphernalia close to the polling division and after reporting it to the police, the items were removed.
MSJ's ABDULAH DID NOT VOTE
Meanwhile, MSJ's political leader David Abdulah did not vote yesterday saying he could not bring himself to vote for either the PNM or the UNC.
"In my electoral district in Preysal, the MSJ doesn't have a candidate. Having said on the campaign trail that people should not voter either the PNM and the UNC, I could not vote because I cannot do something that when I was calling on others to not vote for the PNM or UNC," Abdulah said.
He said the MSJ had a ground campaign and because of resource constraints it could not field candidates in every area.
He admitted to having conversations with other political parties concerning fielding candidates but said there was no iron-clad agreement.
"In at least two electoral districts there were COP candidates contesting where the MSJ is. The MSJ has had absolutely no discussion with PNM or UNC, nor will I have any such discussion," he said.