Sto­ry by CAMILLE McEACH­NIE

Chair­man of One To­ba­go Voice (OTV) steer­ing com­mit­tee, Ho­choy Charles, says OTV is back­ing the Pro­gres­sive De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Pa­tri­ots (PDP) To­ba­go West can­di­date, Tashia Grace Bur­ris.

OTV is field­ing Ju­liana Hen­ry-King for To­ba­go East.

PDP's To­ba­go East can­di­date and po­lit­i­cal leader Wat­son Duke de­scribed OTV's move as "puz­zling."

"We can't back Duke be­cause he al­ready said he will join with any voice in Trinidad and that will cause To­ba­go to lose its voice," Charles told Guardian Me­dia.

"We be­lieve Tashia (Grace Bur­ris) will rep­re­sent To­ba­go well in Par­lia­ment so we are sup­port­ing her," the OTV's steer­ing com­mit­tee's chair­man added.

Guardian Me­dia broke OTV's news to Duke, who was on the Claude Noel High­way in a mo­tor­cade, head­ing to the John Di­al Mul­ti­pur­pose Fa­cil­i­ty to file his nom­i­na­tion pa­pers.

"I am not shocked. I am not per­turbed. I am rather con­fused about why would a man who is ap­proach­ing his 90s will be en­tan­gled with a young black pan­ther," Duke told Guardian Me­dia.