The landslide victory of Jack Warner speaks to the demise of the UNC and could also signal a real possibility of the former national security minister becoming the country’s next prime minister, says former government minister Ralph Maraj. Maraj was among a television panel which also included journalist Sunity Maharaj, managing director of the Lloyd Best Institute of the West Indies, and political analyst Dr Winford James. Maraj described the victory as a “sad day” for the country, as someone who has been so discredited, locally and internationally could be elected. Examining what Warner’s win said about the national consciousness, Maraj added, “So-called validating elites in this country would tend to frown upon the emergence of somebody like Jack Warner and his possibility of becoming the prime minister, but clearly after tonight that is a very real possibility. “What does it say about our culture that somebody like Jack Warner could now emerge in this country as a possible candidate for prime ministership?”
Warner’s victory, Maraj said, also represented a much larger picture, one that questioned the future United National Congress (UNC). “Kamla Persad-Bissessar—under her leadership and under the influence of the cabal, the UNC continues to shrink back into that heartland, which in itself is shrinking, because younger people are growing up and the more professional class are moving out and moving into the urban areas. “If this election says anything to the UNC ,it is that it has to look at the leadership of Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the influence of the cabal,” he added.
The by-election race, Maharaj said, represented a “battle inside the UNC,” as Chaguanas West is a UNC constituency which has been divided into “UNC A and UNC B.” “What we have seen tonight is a tremendous division inside the UNC, and how is the UNC as a party going to deal with that? We are going to have to see what are the implications of a Warner victory on the UNC and the on the partnership,” Maharaj added.
Saying no one could deny that Warner is an “extraordinary man,” Maharaj said money also made him “even more extraordinary.” “The country is clearly searching for a way past the automatic voter connection to just ethnic politics. It wants to just try something,” Maharaj said. “There’s a huge vacuum now and for the moment he (Warner) is just filling it. It was clear very early on in this government that a vacuum was developing and the question is what new forces will be released in the political system.” On the issue of leadership of the UNC, James asked who was the potential replacement for Persad-Bissessar. “We hope that the result of this election is going to take us to a path which will not be reversed, and therefore the parties will clean themselves up and come up with a model of democracy or constitutional reform that does not take us back along the tribal rule,” James said.
After conceding defeat last night, Persad-Bissessar told supporters the UNC had not lost because the party was still in government. This however, James said, mirrored the unsuitability of Persad-Bissessar as prime minister. “Strange, incredible things continue to pour from the prime minister’s mouth. She is saying that the government has not lost because it is still in government, on the basis of the result of a by-election that could now put her out of power. “I find that really amazing. It captures the unsuitability of Mrs Bissessar and her Cabinet to run this country.”