Al-Rawi: GML polls result expected but constituents happier

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Despite a strong challenge from United National Congress’ (UNC) Sean Sobers in San Fernando West, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi says constituents are happy with his and the Government’s work over the last five years.Confident that the People’s National Movement (PNM) will win the August 10 General Election, Al-Rawi said the results of the Guardian Media-commissioned HHB and Associates’ poll had met some expectation.

Speaking to the media following the sod-turning for the San Fernando Waterfront Car Park yesterday, he noted the expression for a margin of error, saying that at the constituency level there is more satisfaction.“I can simply say that the polls are quite in the zone of expectation, exactly at the time of where we are. I noted the margin of error expression and the fact that the PNM and the Prime Minister are in lead positions,” Al-Rawi said.

“It is a significant boost to us because in an extremely difficult economy that we have had to manage, it shows that Dr Rowley’s leadership as a political leader has really taken us in the right direction.”

He added, “When you look at it, the statistics, if you desegregate them, are also considerably in favour of the PNM. I want to remind you that a poll of this nature, which is a national poll, says a certain thing but the accuracy of polling when you get down to the constituency level, that is a different thing.”

According to the poll, the PNM has a slight edge over the UNC with two weeks to go. It showed that race is still a major factor in voting, and there was increasing disenchantment among electors.

One argument in the UNC’s campaign is the number of projects and programmes it implemented during its 2010-2015 tenure. However, Al-Rawi said the economy was much better then, adding the PNM was able to do a lot with less.“When the UNC was in power, oil was above $100 a barrel, and then on average, it was about $89 a barrel. The first year the PNM came in, oil dropped to $27. … In between, we had to deal with the issue of the Petrotrin refinancing. Fortunately, the union came forward with a brilliant proposal, and we are looking forward to that position. So we have had a vastly different economy,” he said.In San Fernando West, he said people are happy that the prisons are bugged, that they own land and can smoke marijuana without prosecution.