Raphael John-Lall

Fos­ter Cum­mings, the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) can­di­date, is the new MP for the La Hor­quet­ta/Tal­paro con­stituen­cy.

He de­feat­ed the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress’ (UNC) Jear­lean John, in what was con­sid­ered one of the hot­ly con­test­ed seats in the 2020 Gen­er­al Elec­tion.

Al­though John nar­rowed the mar­gin in the seat which was won by the PNM which gar­nered 2,822 more votes than the UNC in the 2015 Gen­er­al Elec­tion, she was un­able to clinch vic­to­ry. Guardian Me­dia did not have the fi­nal elec­tion tal­ly up to late last night.

Max­ie Cuffie won the 2015 elec­tion in that con­stituen­cy with 10,428 votes, while the UNC’s Jairam Seemu­n­gal got 7,606 votes.

Hun­dreds of PNM sup­port­ers dressed in red sang “Great is the PNM” and set off fire­works in cel­e­bra­tion of Cum­mings’ vic­to­ry.

Cum­mings, speak­ing at the PNM’s camp at the cor­ner of Tumpuna Road and Churchill-Roo­sevelt High­way, said that the seat was nev­er a mar­gin­al and it was al­ways a PNM strong­hold.

It was the UNC who mis­led the coun­try in­to think­ing it was a mar­gin­al, he added.

“We were on the ground and went from house to house. I of­fered what my vi­sion was to the con­stituen­cy.”

He said the con­stituen­cy was part of the bread­bas­ket of this coun­try and he in­tends to work with the farm­ers in places like Waller­field and La Hor­quet­ta.

PNM supporters celebrate at the PNM's camp at the corner of Tumpuna Road and the Churchill-Rooselvelt Highway after Foster Cummings' victory in the La Horquetta/Talparo constituency.

Raphael John-Lall

He will al­so be work­ing with young peo­ple as the Gov­ern­ment plans to set up a youth camp in Waller­field to al­low the young peo­ple in the con­stituen­cy to en­hance their skills.

In a very brief ad­dress, he thanked con­stituents for their sup­port and told them to go home as they should abide by the COVID-19 health pro­to­cols.

The mood at the UNC’s of­fice in Brazil, mean­while, was very dif­fer­ent. When the Guardian reached around 11 pm, John was in a closed-door meet­ing with sup­port­ers.

She told the Guardian that she was not dis­ap­point­ed for her­self but the en­tire con­stituen­cy.

When asked why she felt that she lost, she ad­mit­ted she does not know.

“I do not want to spec­u­late at this time. We worked so hard to try to win the seat.”

John said she does not know what her next move in life will be and added that she has to take some much-need­ed rest and then de­cide her next move po­lit­i­cal­ly.

Foster Cummings and his wife, Juliet Cummings, at the PNM's camp after his election victory.

Raphael John-Lall

“I will not make any hasty de­ci­sions. T&T is my coun­try and I love it.”

Max­ie Cuffie held the seat from 2015 to 2020 and he had suf­fered health is­sues dur­ing his term in of­fice. In a fi­nal state­ment, he had said he did not want his health is­sues to dis­tract from the se­ri­ous busi­ness of rep­re­sent­ing the con­stituen­cy.