Hav­ing ac­cu­rate­ly pre­dict­ed the out­come and mar­gin of vic­to­ry in Ch­agua­nas West, I am now em­bold­ened to ven­ture an opin­ion on the up­com­ing lo­cal gov­ern­ment elec­tions.It is clear that the ILP will se­cure at least 70 per cent of votes cast in the Ch­agua­nas Bor­ough Cor­po­ra­tion, and be vic­to­ri­ous there.In the oth­er cor­po­ra­tions, the Nac­ta polls in­di­cate that the un­de­cid­ed vot­ers will hold the bal­ance of pow­er.

I am of the view that most of these votes will swing to the ILP dur­ing the com­ing week, to give that par­ty be­tween 40-55 per cent of votes cast out­side of Ch­agua­nas. This may re­sult in an ILP vic­to­ry in Diego Mar­tin, Tu­na­puna/Pi­ar­co, Ari­ma, San­gre Grande, Cou­va/Tabaquite/Tal­paro and San Fer­nan­do. I ex­pect that the PNM will hold on to Port-of-Spain, San Juan/Laven­tille and Point Fortin, and may suc­ceed in Ma­yaro/Rio Claro.

Be­cause of the en­dur­ing per­son­al pop­u­lar­i­ty of the Prime Min­is­ter her­self, and for no oth­er rea­son, the UNC may man­age to re­tain Siparia, Pe­nal/Debe and Princes Town.If I am cor­rect, there­fore, the fi­nal re­sult in terms of the con­trol of re­gion­al cor­po­ra­tions may be: ILP 7, PNM 4, and UNC 3.

Re­han Ab­dool

San Fer­nan­do