Political Leader of the UNC Kamla Persad-Bissessar said T&T should brace for change in the UNC with regards to her line up of candidates for the 2010 general election. Persad-Bissessar said the UNC's screening committee was presented with a lot of prospective candidates who were "fresh faces" to the local political scene. She said there had been an overwhelming number of persons offering themselves to be a candidate on her slate for the general election. She said much of these prospective candidates were women and young persons.
"There are still so many people who are offering themselves (to be a UNC candidate)...I am encouraged that a change will come when you see the quality of candidates," Persad-Bissessar said. She added: "High profile names," such as parliamentarians: both former senators and incumbent MPs, were not necessarily the best candidate for the job. "I think we have a great quality (of nominees)...and a wide spread of nominees," Persad-Bissessar said.
She spoke during the lunch break of the UNC's screening exercise, the fifth day that the party screened prospective candidates for the general election. At present, nominees for more than 20 constituencies were screened to on the UNC's slate of candidates for the 2010 general election. Six UNC candidates were declared last week to fight the People's National Movement (PNM). Among these included Persad-Bissessar (Siparia), Jack Warner (Chaguanas West), Fuad Khan (Barataria/San Juan), Winston Peters (Mayaro), Roodal Moonilal (Oropouche East) and Clifton De Couteau (Princes Town South/
Tableland).
UNC 2010 General Election Candidates
Siparia - Kamla Persad-Bissessar
Chaguanas West - Jack Warner
Barataria/San Juan - Fuad Khan
Mayaro - Winston Peters
Oropouche East - Roodal Moonilal
Princes Town South/Tableland - Clifton De Couteau
Undecided Constituencies
Caroni East - Tim Gopeesingh, Anil Ramnanan
Cumuto/Manzanilla - Harry Partap, Krish Jurai, Savitri Lochan
Fyzabad - Chandresh Sharma, Vijay Foster
La Brea - Ramesh Ramnanand
La Horquetta/Talparo - Natasha Navas, Jairam Seemungal, Sookram Ali
Laventille East/Morvant - Glenda Boodoram, Garth Christopher, Sherwyn Williams, Patricia Herry, Wilfred Farrell
Laventille West - Princess Smart
Naparima - Nizam Baksh, Danny Maharaj, Sieukeran Tambie
Point Fortin - Fitzroy Beache, Dennis Williams, Anthony Moore
Princes Town North - Subhas Panday, Ramraj Harripersad, Collin Partap, Reeza Mohammed, Shane Mohammed, Neela Khan, Lester Orie
St Ann's East - Terry Joseph, Allanna Rivas, Geewan Ramdeen
St Augustine - Vasant Bharath, Khadijah Ameen
Tabaquite - Ramesh Maharaj, Anand Ramlogan, Ravi Ratiram
Toco/Sangre Grande - Jennifer Jones-Kernahan