For­mer Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for Ca­roni Cen­tral, Arnold Ram has said that his ded­i­ca­tion to the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) re­mains un­wa­ver­ing af­ter be­ing over­looked as a nom­i­nee for the April 28 gen­er­al elec­tion, de­spite his dis­ap­point­ment in be­ing left out.

Ram is­sued a state­ment af­ter Per­sad-Bisses­sar an­nounced the full slate of 39 can­di­dates Thurs­day night. The UNC is not con­test­ing the two To­ba­go seats.

“It is with a deep sense of com­mit­ment and re­spect that I, Arnold Ram, an­nounce that I will not be the can­di­date for the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) for the 2025 Gen­er­al Elec­tions in the con­stituen­cy of Ca­roni Cen­tral. While I was not se­lect­ed by the UNC’s screen­ing com­mit­tee, my ded­i­ca­tion to the par­ty, its lead­er­ship, and the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go re­mains un­wa­ver­ing,” Ram said in the state­ment.

He ex­tend­ed “heart­felt con­grat­u­la­tions” to deputy po­lit­i­cal leader David Lee who has been se­lect­ed as the prospec­tive can­di­date to rep­re­sent the UNC in Ca­roni Cen­tral.

“David and I have been friends for more than 12 years and we served to­geth­er as par­lia­men­tary col­leagues be­tween 2020-2025. I am con­fi­dent that the par­ty has cho­sen some­one ca­pa­ble, ded­i­cat­ed, and pas­sion­ate about the work we all aim to ac­com­plish for the peo­ple of this great na­tion. With­out hes­i­ta­tion, I pledge my full sup­port to David and will con­tin­ue to work tire­less­ly to en­sure the suc­cess of the UNC coali­tion of in­ter­ests at the polls,” he said.

He con­tin­ued: “For me, this de­ci­sion, though ad­mit­ted­ly dis­ap­point­ing, is not about in­di­vid­ual am­bi­tions. It is about the larg­er pic­ture—about putting our coun­try first, about en­sur­ing that the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) is re­moved from pow­er, and about mak­ing the lives of every­day cit­i­zens bet­ter. I be­lieve whole­heart­ed­ly in our mantra that when UNC wins, EVERY­BODY Wins.”

Ram al­so ex­pressed grat­i­tude to Per­sad-Bisses­sar.

“I have been hon­ored to serve un­der her lead­er­ship, and her guid­ance has shaped me in­to the pub­lic ser­vant I am to­day. I re­main res­olute in my sup­port for her and her vi­sion for a pros­per­ous and eq­ui­table Trinidad and To­ba­go.”

Ram con­tin­ued: “Though I will not be re­turn­ing as your Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment, I re­main ful­ly com­mit­ted to the ser­vice of the peo­ple and the UNC. I will con­tin­ue to serve as the elec­tion of­fi­cer of the par­ty, en­sur­ing that the 2025 elec­tions are fair, free, and trans­par­ent, and that we work to­geth­er to re­move the cur­rent gov­ern­ment. I will con­tin­ue to stand as a firm ad­vo­cate for the rights and needs of all cit­i­zens of Trinidad and To­ba­go, in what­ev­er ca­pac­i­ty I am called up­on to serve.”