National Transformation Alliance (NTA) political leader Gary Griffith is satisfied with the outcome of the Local Government Elections (LGE), claiming the NTA has become the “de facto” third party in the country.
"If you take the rest of the parties and add up their votes, we got more than them and we only contested thirty-one seats," Griffith told Guardian Media last night.
At the end of the counting process, which showed a 7-7 tie between the ruling People's National Movement (PNM) and the main opposition United National Congress (UNC), the leader of the eight-month-old NTA applauded his party’s ability to “bridge the gap” in seats previously held by the PNM.
While asserting that it was “no longer automatic” that the PNM has control of the East-West Corridor, Griffith suggested that the NTA could now use the election result as a springboard for the next general election in 2025.
The NTA leader also boasted that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley had “my address in his head”, while suggesting that Rowley spent much of his time on the LGE platform attacking him (Griffith) even though the PNM was over 60 years, while his party was less than a year old.
As for his party’s alliance with the UNC for the LGE, Griffith stated that being part of a strategic alliance does not mean that you are "part of that party”.
“Different parties have different principles and so forth," he maintained.
While the NTA was unable to capture any seats under the first past the post system, Grifith maintained that it did make an impact in the LG poll.
"You will see that in every single one of the 31 seats we have closed the gap, some of them tremendously to the point that we may very well have an alderman in Arima and in Diego Martin. We are moving in the right direction," he stressed.
Griffith, who is a former commissioner of police and National Security minister, also argued that in order for third parties to have an impact on the political landscape, it was important for them to forge “strategic alliances”.
"The only way we could be represented properly and to represent our citizens is by being part of a government and the only way we can do that is by forming an alliance,” he explained.
As the results came in at the NTA’s headquarters at the corner of Duke Street and Wrightson Road, deputy lLeader Nicole Dyer-Griffith encouraged the supporters of the party to "lift your chin up", while her husband told Guardian Media Limited that the aim for the party in its first elections was simply to have a foothold "in the corridor”.
“It will assist in taking certain seats away from the PNM," he insisted.