Pro­gres­sive Em­pow­er­ment Par­ty (PEP) leader Philip Alexan­der says the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) may want to think again if it be­lieves Diego Mar­tin will re­main a PNM strong­hold.

Alexan­der yes­ter­day told Guardian Me­dia he plans to con­test the Diego Mar­tin Cen­tral seat, where he lives, in the up­com­nig gen­er­al elec­tion. He said un­der the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) coali­tion, PEP plans to con­test sev­er­al seats in the north­west re­gion.

These in­clude Diego Mar­tin West, Diego Mar­tin Cen­tral, Diego Mar­tin North/East, Port-of-Spain North/St Ann’s West, Port-of-Spain South, St Ann’s East, Laven­tille East/Mor­vant and Laven­tille West.

“This elec­tion is go­ing to be a lit­er­al white­wash. PNM is go­ing to be beat­en very bad­ly. The peo­ple of this coun­try couldn’t be more fed up of this Gov­ern­ment and every one of them and the least per­form­ing min­is­ter of all those bad­ly per­form­ing min­is­ters is Symon de No­bri­ga. He might as well be a ghost.”

While he pre­ferred to wait un­til the UNC’s screen­ing was com­plet­ed, Alexan­der would on­ly re­veal that PEP has a strong fe­male can­di­date to con­test the Diego Mar­tin West con­stituen­cy.

Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley has been the MP for the last three decades.

How­ev­er, he will not be seek­ing re-elec­tion as he will be ex­it­ing pol­i­tics in the com­ing months.

The PNM is yet to screen prospec­tive can­di­dates for any of the three Diego Mar­tin con­stituen­cies.

But when Guardian Me­dia vis­it­ed Diego Mar­tin Cen­tral yes­ter­day and Wednes­day, many con­stituents said it does not mat­ter who con­tests the seat- Diego Mar­tin Cen­tral will re­main a PNM strong­hold.

From Di­a­mond Vale to Pe­tit Val­ley to Morne Co­co, res­i­dents seemed to be torn when it came to the per­for­mance of the in­cum­bent MP Symon De No­bri­ga.

One res­i­dent said, “I have been here for over 12 years in Di­a­mond Vale. I have nev­er seen the ex­ist­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tive for the area. I don’t need to see them ac­tu­al­ly but I need, like oth­ers, to get things done when it’s need­ed.”

An­oth­er res­i­dent An­gela Ce­les­tine said, “If you ain’t ask­ing for help you can’t get help you know. He can’t just come and know what you want. You have to go to him and ask him or go to the con­stituen­cy and ask and say what is what ... he is very down to earth. To me, he lis­tens to you.”

An­oth­er res­i­dent Cuth­bert Tra­cy said, “The MP is non-ex­is­tent.”

One Pe­tit Val­ley res­i­dent said, “This guy is full of chat but no ac­tion. You talk to him and he’s al­ways go­ing to re­spond but noth­ing hap­pens.”

While he has shown no in­ter­est in be­ing screened for the Diego Mar­tin Cen­tral con­stituen­cy, For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs Min­is­ter Dr Amery Browne is still loved by many of his for­mer con­stituents, who have called for his re­turn.

Browne was the MP from 2007 to 2015.

A res­i­dent said, “Amery Browne is able, well re­spect­ed. I think he was very mod­er­ate. Even the way he con­ducts him­self, he is not some­body who has a lot of con­fu­sion around him. That’s what I like about him and that’s what a lot of times when you speak to peo­ple here and they ask you who would you like, just as a rep­re­sen­ta­tive gen­er­al­ly, Amery Browne name comes up.”

Con­stituent Veron­i­ca Roberts said, “I ad­mire him. He’s a son. He’s some­body that you can talk to and when a per­son learns to lis­ten that’s plen­ty.”

The Diego Mar­tin Cen­tral con­stituen­cy ex­ec­u­tive will present the names of nom­i­nees to the screen­ing com­mit­tee on Mon­day. De No­bri­ga is ex­pect­ed to be the sole nom­i­nee.