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After tied vote, Trinidad`s President to choose leader
After a tie in Parliamentary elections, the task of choosing a new leader for ethnically divided Trinidad and Tobago has fallen to a single man.
After a tie in Parliamentary elections, the task of choosing a new leader for ethnically divided Trinidad and Tobago has fallen to a single man.
The constitution says that President Arthur Robinson, whose post is usually ceremonial, must choose the Prime Minister because the two main parties each won 18 of the 36 seats in Parliament.
Robinson may issue his decision this week after recounts are completed in two districts where results were close. Last week's attempts to cobble together a coalition government failed.
Meanwhile, residents of the two-island Caribbean country are in the awkward position of not knowing who their leader will be more than a week after the Dec 10 general elections.
While Robinson has remained silent, there is no shortage of advice coming from all quarters in the oil-rich nation of 1.3 million people. “I am sure in arriving at your decision you will also invoke the guiding wisdom of almighty god,” said Sat Maharaj of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, a Hindu organisation.
The organisation prefers the incumbent Prime Minister, Basdeo Panday. He became the country's first leader of East Indian scent when his United National Congress party -largely backed by those of Indian descent - won general elections in 1995.
The People's National Movement, led by former prime minister Patrick Manning, draws its support mainly from Afro-Trinidadians.
Bureau Report
The constitution says that President Arthur Robinson, whose post is usually ceremonial, must choose the Prime Minister because the two main parties each won 18 of the 36 seats in Parliament.
Robinson may issue his decision this week after recounts are completed in two districts where results were close. Last week's attempts to cobble together a coalition government failed.
Meanwhile, residents of the two-island Caribbean country are in the awkward position of not knowing who their leader will be more than a week after the Dec 10 general elections.
While Robinson has remained silent, there is no shortage of advice coming from all quarters in the oil-rich nation of 1.3 million people. “I am sure in arriving at your decision you will also invoke the guiding wisdom of almighty god,” said Sat Maharaj of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, a Hindu organisation.
The organisation prefers the incumbent Prime Minister, Basdeo Panday. He became the country's first leader of East Indian scent when his United National Congress party -largely backed by those of Indian descent - won general elections in 1995.
The People's National Movement, led by former prime minister Patrick Manning, draws its support mainly from Afro-Trinidadians.
Bureau Report