rootsandculture

The Trinidad and Tobago general election appears to have passed without any violence and a new government has gained the numbers to replace the old government. Patrick Manning leaves and in steps Kamla Persad-Bissessar: Trinidad and Tobago ’s first female Prime Minister. From my temporary base in the PNM stronghold of Diego Martin, I watched with amazement at the excitement the elections seemed to generate. The weekend leading up to the election saw a series of events held by all the parties and all seemed to be attended by gung-ho supporters of all ages. I tried to think of when I last saw anything like this in Guyana , Jamaica , elsewhere, even the USA . With the election of Barack Obama we did see some unusual enthusiasm but still turnout hovered in the mid 50s, percent: The highest turnout since 1968. The average between midterm and presidential elections shows less than half the people eligible to vote in the US actually vote. So it was strange in a good way to see the