Gail Alexan­der

Se­nior Po­lit­i­cal Re­porter

Af­ter weeks of ver­bal war, they're al­most at the end. Some peo­ple in down­town Port-of-Spain were seen wear­ing red jer­seys yes­ter­day. Oth­ers were in yel­low and to­day, when they all con­verge at their re­spec­tive ral­lies in their re­spec­tive colours - in large traf­fic jams - the war of words reach­es its peak. Any­thing they didn't say be­fore is now fair game. Here's what you may have missed from the plat­form:

UNC Oropouche East can­di­date Dr Roodal Mooni­lal at Thurs­day's Moru­ga meet­ing:

"Stu­art Young, we don't want any 'New Chap­ter'! We want to close dat book. It has been a book of hor­ror! ... The UNC is on the as­cen­dan­cy, wher­ev­er you go in T&T, the chil­dren are singing 'When the UNC wins, every­body wins' ... We're on the verge of a his­toric vic­to­ry ... No one must de­ny the UNC the right to form the gov­ern­ment! I say to Her Ex­cel­len­cy Chris­tine Kan­ga­loo tonight: on Mon­day night, do not go to sleep ear­ly! Wake! Be­cause you will have to act on Mon­day night - and don't tell us you went to sleep ear­ly and didn't hear the re­sult. You will have to act!"

PNM deputy leader Ro­han Sinanan at Thurs­day's San­gre Grande meet­ing:

"I'm speak­ing to some of our sup­port­ers and they say they're be­ing threat­ened (by peo­ple) that they must not come out and sup­port the PNM. Well, lemme tell these peo­ple some­thing. About a month ago, I heard that they took over San­gre Grande. When I heard that I said don't wor­ry, I'm com­ing back home and I can tell you to­day, Roger Mon­roe will beat that fel­la two to one! I say so as I be­lieve in the peo­ple of To­co/San­gre Grande. But if the peo­ple of To­co/San­gre Grande de­cide that's the style of rep­re­sen­ta­tion they want, then God help you all! But I have faith in you ..."

UNC Cou­va North can­di­date Jear­lean John at at Thurs­day's Moru­ga meet­ing:

"On the ground, peo­ple are very wor­ried about the out­come of the Gen­er­al Elec­tion ... You''ll be sur­prised at the peo­ple who are tex­ting and say­ing the cam­paign is fan­tas­tic, but they're scared, they're not sleep­ing well, oth­ers say they're tak­ing antacid, they're so ner­vous. But you can make this elec­tion too big for them to rig .... Dem (EBC) want us now to be­lieve that dem free and fair? (but) We have to be ner­vous. We have to jump at every­thing they do ... the PNM is mo­ti­vat­ed not to move from there and we have to make sure peo­ple come out and en­sure this elec­tion is too big to rig! ... God will­ing the UNC will ul­ti­mate­ly form the next Gov­ern­ment!"

PNM To­co/San­gre Grande can­di­date Roger Mon­roe at Thurs­day's San­gre Grande meet­ing:

"Warn­ing to my PNM peo­ple! Elec­tions is se­ri­ous busi­ness, it has con­se­quences. If you don't be­lieve me call a friend, broth­er, sis­ter or any­body you know in the US - they'll tell you the con­se­quences of elec­tions! Our un­de­cid­ed vot­ers, those vot­ing for the first time: don't al­low the boat to sail with­out you! Get on board a team of re­spect­ful peo­ple with dig­ni­ty and in­tegri­ty - the PNM. Don't both­er with this 'Code' talk! For­get 'Code' talk be­cause Red is The Word to break dat wicked code! So, when you go to the polls on Mon­day, break it up all over T&T!"

UNC Barataria/San Juan can­di­date Sad­dam Ho­sein at Thurs­day's Moru­ga meet­ing:

"A few weeks ago, I had a press con­fer­ence on what was tak­ing place at the RDC and I hap­pened to touch a very sen­si­tive nerve on a re­tiree called Kei­th Row­ley ... he come in the Croisee af­ter re­tire­ment and said 'Sad­dam Ho­sein should go to hell!'. Tonight, I want to tell Dr Row­ley I'm not giv­ing you com­pa­ny where you're go­ing. Don't ask for com­pa­ny, you could car­ry Stu­art Young with yuh but don't car­ry me with you ... How dese fel­las get­ting con­tracts we have to ask. But Row­ley is the most in­no­cent man in the world. But tonight, I want to tell Row­ley: stay in re­tire­ment and shut yuh mouth! Stay in re­tire­ment!"

PNM Cu­mu­to/Man­zanil­la can­di­date San­jiv Bood­hu at Thurs­day's San­gre Grande meet­ing:

"Con­sid­er the last three MPs for Cu­mu­to/Man­zanil­la - all UNC. Ask your­selves how of­ten you saw them, come to your as­sis­tance and sought your in­ter­ests and if they haven't done those things, they haven't done their job ... so why are we go­ing to give them the job again! Cu­mu­to/Man­za­il­la, when they come with a code, tell dem Red is the Word! When they say UNC, tell dem PNM - Red is the Word! When they say Sam, tell dem if not Bood­hu then who? When they give you mon­ey to vote, take it and vote PNM and tell them - Red is the word! If you not red - stay in yuh bed!"