PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - JACK WARNER’S convincing victory in Monday’s by-election for the Chaguanas West constituency can be subjected to varying political interpretations. These will undoubtedly be coming in the days ahead from political scientists and other media commentators.
We may, however, have to wait for the local government elections, likely to occur by October, to know if Mr Warner’s impressive success in retaining that once traditional United National Congress fortress constituency is indeed the political “game changer” some think it is or whether his faithful voting constituents of some 12,642 (compared with the approximately 18,000 at the May 2010 general election) were simply reminding the UNC that their vote to send him back as their parliamentary representative more than anything else was an expression of gratitude for the outstanding services he had rendered.
Some may cynically suggest that Jack Warner’s electoral triumph under the banner of an overnight party he created for the by-election—the Independent Liberal Party (IPL)—means that corruption in public life, popularly known in this nation as “bobol”, makes no difference to these voters.