The Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) has confirmed eight candidates for the upcoming local government elections. Party leader David Abdulah named the candidates at a public forum on local government hosted by the MSJ at the Fanny Village Community Centre in Point Fortin on Sunday. Abdulah said the MSJ would not field candidates in all electoral districts, but strategic seats where its members were active would be contested.
He said there was keen interest among MSJ members and screening would continue at its St Joseph headquarters next week. Local elections are constitutionally due by July, but Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is yet to announce a date. However, all of the major political parties, including the PNM, PP and COP, have begun screening candidates. It will be the MSJ’s first independent foray into the politics since severing ties with the People’s Partnership.
At the Point Fortin meeting, Abdulah also took a jab at his former trade union colleague, now Minister of Labour Errol Mc Leod, who, at the PP third-anniversary celebration last Friday, said the MSJ was dead. Without naming Mc Leod, with whom he served in the Oilfields Workers Trade Union, Abdulah said, “The MSJ is alive. “Others would not know that, because they have not been part of this for more than a year, so they don’t know what is going on. What they are saying is based on some fanciful idea they have in their head. “I know the MSJ is alive and we are building a ready different kind of political party,” he offered.
The Candidates
Erin—Theo Henry
Palo Seco—Philbert Thomas
Brighton/Vessigny—Patrice Edwards
Edinburgh 500—Riza Baptiste
Macoya/Trincity—Earle Andrews
Tumpuna/Arima—Carlene Mc Carthy
Maracas/Santa Magarita—Sharon Cumberbatch
Chaguaramas/Pt Cumana Errol Burke.