SANDO WEST SHOWDOWN

IS the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) attempting to put the marginal San Fernando West constituency out of the reach of the United National Congress (UNC)?

Changes by EBC to the seat’s boundaries – the second in three general elections – have aroused fears in the UNC of electoral gerrymandering.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar branded the EBC as “corrupt” in making constituency changes, which, she said, will benefit the People’s National Movement (PNM).

The UNC has been fancying its chances in the constituency after winning four of the nine local government seats, including the former PNM sanctuary Marabella West, in the 2023 municipal election.

The UNC narrowed the losses in several of the seats captured by the PNM.

The boundaries of the San Fernando City Corporation do not overlap those of San Fernando West seat but are a guide to popular support.

In its new report, the EBC transferred three polling divisions (PD) from PNM fortress San Fernando East into San Fernando West.

Two PDs were moved from the UNC safe constituency of Oropouche East into San Fernando East.

In 2015, the EBC switched two PNM-strong PDs from San Fernando East to San Fernando West.

And the commission moved three PDs from Oropouche East to San Fernando East.

Ms. Persad-Bissessar said those measures bolster the PNM in the swing San Fernando West.

The constituency, once considered essential to winning the general election, was captured in 2015 and 2020 by the PNM’s Faris Al Rawi.

In 2025, Al Rawi won by 3,000 votes, and in 2020 by1,800.

The Government has undertaken several measures in the constituency, including the development of the foreshore project and the refurbishment of Skinner Park.

But there are major issues of crime, flooding, poor infrastructure, and the economic fallout of the 2018 closure of Petrotrin’s operations.

Patriotic Energies and Technologies, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oilfields’ Workers’ Trade Union, is holding discussions with Heritage Petroleum Company Ltd. for lease of Petrotrin.

A team of Patriotic officials toured the plant last week.

Political observers say the UNC’s candidate selection could go a long way in determining the outcome of the San Fernando West election.

The seat has the largest number of business and professional people of all national constituencies.

There are four major full-gospel churches, with a total of more than 4,000 worshippers.

“The number of Catholics, Anglicans and Presbyterians has dwindled,” one analyst said, “and the candidate must reflect the shifting political sands.”

Al Rawi’s mother Diane Seukeran was a representative of the constituency from 2007 to 2010 and his grandfather Lionel Frank Seukeran was a major political operative and resident in the 1960s and 1970s.

Now, with a showdown looming in the constituency, the UNC fears the EBC is manoeuvring to keep it in the PNM’s hands.