(Trinidad Express) Political leader of the United National Congress (UNC) Kamla Persad-Bissessar has announced a “coalition of interest” with the Laventille Outreach for Vertical Enrichment (LOVE) movement, the Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP), the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) and other unions.
She said, however, the UNC was not interested in working with the National Transformation Alliance led by Gary Griffith.
Persad-Bissessar made the announcement yesterday ahead of the screening for candidates at the UNC headquarters in Chaguanas.
“This evening, we had some meetings with PEP (Progressive Empowerment Party), the LOVE Movement and the OWTU and other unions. We have all agreed to engage to work together with respect to a coalition of interest. We have spent some time discussing the logistics and details of how that engagement should take place…we are looking at messaging, strategies, candidates for seats, no decision has been made but we are bouncing off seats where each may have a competitive advantage,” she said.
She added, however, that all candidates would be presented under the UNC banner. She also told the media that the UNC will not contest either of the two Tobago seats.
President-general of the OWTU Ancel Roget said through the coalition of interest, everyone had the opportunity to put forward and represent the interests of the workers in Trinidad and Tobago.
LOVE Movement leader Lennox Smith said his party shared a common interest and a common enemy in the People’s National Movement (PNM) with the UNC. Smith recalled LOVE had contested the 2007 general election under the UNC-A.
PEP leader Phillip Edward Alexander said the UNC commanded the numbers required to remove the PNM.
Persad-Bissessar said unlike other political parties that had surfaced before the 2025 general election, the parties in the coalition of interest had been working on the ground for several years. She announced the party will continue screening for this week. She also announced in the coming weeks the UNC’s manifesto will be presented.
