THE EDITOR: Congratulations to the UNC and their coalition partners on their victory. The voters, both in Trinidad and also in Tobago decided it was time for a change in governance after almost ten years of PNM at the helm. This is democracy at work.

Having had time to digest the overall results of the Trinidad leg, it was indeed surprising to see the flipping of several seats previously controlled by the PNM. Both mainstream parties have their core base comprising mainly African/Mixed for the PNM, and East Indians for the UNC, and both parties over the years, have been reimaging their national appeal to attract all races of society.

It is very hard to beat the UNC in their stronghold seats, some of which they have been occupying for decades. This is simply because the UNC core base does not budge/swing when it comes to supporting the party at election time; whether good or bad.

The same cannot be said of the PNM base which has a higher percentage of swing voters. When we look at the victories of past political parties over the PNM, namely the NAR, the UNC/Peoples Partnership, and in 2025 with the UNC coalition of interests, the incumbent PNM lost some of their black vote support.

This election, the hemorrhaging of the voters’ support was extremely bad for the PNM; some supporters didn’t even vote. When you view the UNC's victory celebrations in the constituencie wrested away from the PNM, most of the celebrants were of African or mixed race, with the majority being swing voters.

It would be incumbent on the UNC to keep hold of this swing voter base if they are to survive. The record would show that after one term of office, both the NAR and the UNC/Peoples Partnership lost the next elections to a regrouped and re-energised PNM.

This was due to that same swing vote group returning back to the PNM to satisfy their political appeals.

The population now waits to see how the UNC would govern given another chance. The party supposedly has learnt from its previous governance stints where they made mistakes, so these should not be repeated.

It would be appealing to the nation if the composition of Persad-Bissessar's cabinet and government reflect the multi ethnicity of our twin island state which would be comforting to all in the years to come. In doing so, the party would hold true to its election anthem: "When UNC wins, everybody wins."

GARY WATCHE

Via e-mail

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