UNITED National Congress (UNC) leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar came out in rare defence of the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) supporters, saying neither they nor opposition voters should be accused of voting along racial lines.
Persad-Bissessar directed her message to smaller and newer political parties who accuse the UNC and PNM of tribal politics.
“That is more of a talking point used by people trying to forge a political space that has never been carefully analysed,” Persad-Bissessar told supporters at a UNC cottage meeting in Caroni on Monday night.
“The notion that some peddle about, that people want something other than the UNC or PNM, meaning, people want them…and then say a vote for us is a tribal vote – it is not true.”
She said there are single-issue and multi-issue voters in democracies and that “the UNC has all of these voters within us.”
Persad-Bissessar prefaced her message by welcoming individuals or groups who share the party’s vision.
The party, she said, “should embrace individuals or groups who share our vision for mainstream politics rather than just a parochial vision…our vision for development, for service to people.
“But at the same time, we must demand discipline and equal effort from those who wish to join us.”
She said third parties are “welcome but must carry their weight.”
The opposition leader reiterated her invitation to work with smaller parties, saying, “I, again, publicly invite any smaller party, stakeholder, independent and unaligned group to speak with us, to work together to rescue our country.”
But she added that, while the party invites others to join the UNC to unseat the government, “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I will not tolerate any disrespect to our hard-working rank and file supporters of the UNC.”
Smaller parties, she said, cannot refer to UNC voters as “sheep” if they intend on piggybacking on their support and resources.
“We have 300,000-plus members; do not play the fool with us. We respect our membership.”
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