Patriotic Front political leader, Mickela Panday, and her mother, Oma Panday, shared an emotional moment at the Esperance Community Complex after casting their ballots this morning.
The two women broke down in tears as Mickela recalled the encouraging words of her late father, former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday, who had always urged her to give her best.
"Don't worry, Mom. Take your time. It's emotional. It's very emotional. Don't worry, Mom," Mickela said to a teary-eyed Oma.
Speaking with reporters, Mickela said she believed her father would have been proud of her.
"He'd say, 'Go get them, Mick.' Yeah, 'Go get them.' And he would always ask me, 'Did you do your best?' And yes, we did. And he'd say, 'That's good enough.' So we're happy. I think Mick did her best," she said.
When asked about her political future and whether she saw herself entering a coalition with any of the other parties, Mickela said it would have to be discussed.
"I don't make unilateral decisions. It will be based on what our supporters want. But we fielded 37 candidates in this election, and I'm really proud of that. Second only to the PNM — we have two candidates in Tobago — and we're just proud. I feel we've already won, even before the results come out," she said.
The younger Panday expressed pride in her team's efforts.
"It's good. It's good. We're happy. We're happy with how things are going. Everybody worked so hard. We didn't have the finances that the others had, so we went back to old-school campaigning—the old-time days. I think people respected the way we conducted our campaign, with no vitriol or hate. The young people stood up so strong. I'm so happy," she said.
