How we vote is not how we party. The words of calypsonian David Rudder are most fitting when it comes to the marginal seat of San Fernando West. San Fernando always has been a close-knit community where every breed and creed party, play mas, drink, hang out together at Skinner Park and in Skiffle Bunch, Fonclaire and Hatters panyards.
When it comes to election time, however, the pendulum has been swinging in a different direction. The 50/50 ethnic composition and religion, namely the Presbyterian votes, have been critical factors to the outcome of any election result. From 1956 to 1986, the constituency was considered a PNM stronghold. In the past three decades, with the development of Gulf View and the migration of middle, upper class citizens of Indo-Trinidadians, who took up residence there, (the majority being Presbyterians) there has been a shift.
PNM first lost the constituency in the historic 1986 election in which the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) won 33 seats. The PNM won three. NAR MP Dr Anslem St George, one of the people who was held hostage in the 1990 attempted coup, served one term. PNM retained the seat in the 1991 and 1995 elections. The respective candidates were Ralph Maraj and current House Speaker Barry Sinanan, both with Presbyterian backgrounds. In 2001, Sadiq Baksh, of the United National Congress (UNC), broke the PNM stronghold. He even set up an office on Rushworth Street, San Fernando, to keep in touch with his constituents.
But internal problems in the UNC created a great comeback for PNM in the person of Diane Seukeran. After one term, she too, was replaced by the incumbent Junia Regrello. In a three-way split in the November 5, 2007 election, Regrello polled 7,371 votes, a total of 114 more than the combined votes of Bishop Jankee Raghunanan for the UNC (2,306) and the candidate for the Congress of the People (COP) Marlene Coudray (4,951).
Election 2010, Regrello believes is a fait accompli for the PNM.
"San Fernando West is not a marginal. I am going up unopposed. I have not seen anyone opposing me. I am hearing names, but I can't see faces," Regrello, a former alderman in the San Fernando City Corporation, quipped in an interview yesterday. One San Fernandian, who has voted for the PNM in all of the elections since 1956, begged to differ with Regrello's position of confidence. "I think it is too close to call. We have to wait and see what is happening. The UNC has not yet declared its hand. I think the outcome will depend on the candidate they are offering," he said. Regrello, 59, is adamant he will win and by a wider margin this time because of the work he has done in the constituency for the past two-and-a-half years and the continued rumblings among opposition forces. "While the Opposition is procrastinating and bluffing and looking for candidates, the PNM representative is galloping to the winning poll with nobody behind me," Regrello, who served as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, boasted.
Born and bred in Sinanan Street, San Fernando, Regrello was also schooled in San Fernando West, where he presently resides with his wife, Kamla, and their two boys, both students of Naparima College and past students of Grant Memorial Presbyterian School. Former manager and captain of TCL Skiffle Bunch Regrello also supports the Little Bunch Steelband at Grant Memorial. He said: "I have contributed to the social, cultural and community work of San Fernando. I am part of San Fernando West and San Fernando West is an integral part of me. "I am the ideal candidate for this constituency. For the past two-and-a-half years I have been working on building relationships and trust and there is unfinished work to be completed. "I am therefore asking for a fresh mandate to continue what I started. San Fernando West is one of the seats given to the COP to contest under The People's Partnership agreement it has worked out with the UNC, TOP, NJAC and MSJ.
Former UNC senator and chairman of National Petroleum Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan is being tipped to contest the seat. Seepersad-Bachan, who was born on Hubert Rance Street, Vistabella, but migrated to Valsayn, is also a Presbyterian. "I think so," she said when asked if she was the COP candidate for San Fernando West, "but one does not really know until Nomination Day." Nomination Day is next Monday. Nevertheless, Seepersad-Bachan has started working in the constituency, including a walkabout in Duncan Village yesterday. Seepersad-Bachan, who fought and lost the Pointe-a-Pierre seat on a COP ticket in the last election to PNM's Christine Kangaloo, also is confident of victory. She believed issues that the PNM had failed to address in the past two-and-a-half years would clinch it for her.
She said: "It is looking hopeful. I have seen so many frustrated people who are peeved about representation. "San Fernando was such a beautiful community but it seems to be under lock-and-key right now because of crime. "There is no freedom. Traffic congestion in the city, the failure to upgrade King's Wharf, one of the gateways into Trinidad, into the long overdue transit hub." She said the provision of health care was another issue that was begging to be addressed. She pointed out while the constituency was home to the San Fernando General Hospital, it was inadequate to serve the needs of the community. "The issue of primary school education is also of concern. Everywhere I go people are talking about the national test, which primary students from standards one to four have to sit, in addition to their weekly and end-of-term tests. This is further restricting and overloading the curriculum, " she said.
And what are the people saying? A young man from Marabella, whose family has been traditional supporters of the Opposition parties said if he has to vote, "I will vote for Junia Regrello." Asked why, he replied: "Because he has worked the area. He reached out to the youths with a number of programmes, hosted basketball tournaments. We never had that in Marabella before." Another young man from Marabella agreed that Regrello had helped to raise the profile of the youths in the community and gave them hope. "I will vote for who I know. It does not mean he is the best choice but he has been very visible. I cannot vote for a ghost," he said, in reference to the Opposition candidate who is yet to be named.