AL RAWI IN TROUBLE?

FARIS Al Rawi, the showy politician who has represented San Fernando West since 2015, could find himself in a bitter re-election battle at the 2025 polls.

The results of the local government election in the southern city show a drift toward the United National Congress.

San Fernando’s municipal borders do not exactly overlap those of the electoral constituency, but is a general outline of the seat now represented by Al Rawi.

Both the city and general election constituencies include Marabella West, an area that embraces the grassroots Trainline, a former fanatical support base of People’s National Movement.

UNC’s John Michael Alibocus narrowly beat PNM’s Jameela Marryshow, daughter of former area representative and party stalwart, Jennifer Marryshaw.

The UNC victory is a startling development in San Fernando politics and suggests an uprising by the Black working class against the PNM.

There is high unemployment and growing frustration in the community.

In a toss-up, UNC lost Cocoyea-Tarouba by 45 votes.

Al Rawi has been accused of a lack of representation, and of making only occasional appearances, with the media and his personal photographer.

Residents have been grumbling of a lack of opportunities and worsening poverty.

Al Rawi is Minister of Rural Development but there is no evidence of infrastructural works in the Trainline.

The PNM administration has carried out some big ticket projects in the southern city – most notably work on the foreshore and improvement to Skinner Park – but there have been little impact on the struggling masses.

While the city corporation would still be led by the PNM, the UNC’s victory in the Marabella Trainline has narrowed the gap and could become a sea change for the party.

Al Rawi polled 8,457 votes in the 2020 general election, to 6,551 for UNC’s Sean Sobers, who did not have a previous national image.

In 2015, he got 10,112 ballots, to 6,802 for Raziah Ahmed, a low-profile, last-minute candidate.

But in the past, the PNM has been beaten in the constituency.

The PNM’s Junia Regrello lost to Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan in 2010, by 7,810 to 9,111 votes.

The demographic profile has changed over the years, from a major Presbyterian presence to a large number of evangelicals and four large born-again churches.

Many constituents have groused about Al Rawi’s flash-in-the-pan representation, with periodic public statements and little visibility or public projects.

Trainline residents say there have been no measures to lift residents from grinding poverty.

The MP was criticised for a lack of remedial works that led to the recent flooding of western areas of San Fernando following heavy rainfall.

Residents pointed to longstanding appeals for dredging of water courses in Les Efforts and the town centre.

Al Rawi threw the blame on the UNC.

The poor condition of some roads and the crime rate are also debits on the MP’s report card.

Some business owners have closed their operations and have migrated or are seeking to do so.

Attempts by the Housing Development Corporation to build apartments in the crowded Todd Street have been criticised by residents and business operators.

Residents appealed to but got no support from their Member of Parliament.

There is a prevailing view that the condition of San Fernando has deteriorated in recent years.

In 2019, Allyson West, a Minister in the Ministry of Finance, said: “I am a proud southerner and when I lived in San Fernando it was booming, it was bright, it was growing, it was developing.

“In the last couple of years…I have been distressed by the fact that San Fernando to me seems more and more to be turning into a shanty town.”

That scathing comment was rebuffed by Regrello, who is now being replaced as mayor.

The UNC’s growth in the southern city is being attributed, at least in part, to a team of activists, including rising start Senator Jayanti Lutchmedial.

There is a growing view that the flashy Al Rawi could be in political trouble at the next general election.