Sascha Wil­son

Af­ter five weeks of in­tense cam­paign­ing for po­lit­i­cal lead­er­ship of the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC), Siparia MP Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has no re­grets. Speak­ing be­fore the start of a mo­tor­cade in Pe­nal to con­clude her cam­paign, Per­sad-Bisses­sar thanked her sup­port­ers urg­ing them to "go out there to­mor­row and vote peace­ful­ly." De­spite the mud­sling­ing and smear cam­paign against her, Per­sad-Bisses­sar wished her op­po­nents in­cum­bent po­lit­i­cal leader Bas­deo Pan­day and Tabaquite MP Ramesh Lawrence Ma­haraj all the best. "To my op­po­nents I say let the best man or woman win," said Per­sad-Bisses­sar. Wins, lose or draw, she said, they must work to­geth­er af­ter to­day's elec­tion to help the par­ty and build a strong par­ty to re­move the Peo­ples Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM).

She said if she los­es she would re­main in the par­ty. "I will con­tin­ue to serve the par­ty in what­ev­er way I can. I am still an elect­ed Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment." Asked how she felt, she said, "I don't want to be face­tious but I am not ner­vous. Once the elec­tion is fair and trans­par­ent I am very con­fi­dent I will win. The sup­port has giv­en us tremen­dous strength and kept me fo­cused." Per­sad-Bisses­sar, whose sym­bol is the star, said she would be cast­ing her vote be­tween 10 and 10.30 am at Clarke Road Hin­du School in Pe­nal. Es­cort­ed by a group of mo­tor­cy­clists and ac­com­pa­nied by mu­sic trucks, the mo­tor­cade drove through Pe­nal, Debe and Philip­pine.

?Kam­la facts:

1. Born April 4, 1952 in Siparia.

2. First woman to serve as at­tor­ney gen­er­al, act­ing prime min­is­ter and Leader of the Op­po­si­tion.

3. In 1995, be­came as Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for Siparia.

4. Served as at­tor­ney gen­er­al in 1995.

5. Sworn in as the Min­is­ter of Ed­u­ca­tion on De­cem­ber 22, 2000 in a UNC Gov­ern­ment.

6. On April 26, 2006 ap­point­ed Leader of the Op­po­si­tion.