Having declared a victory in her party’s internal elections on Sunday, UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar says focus will now shift to preparation for Local Government elections and general elections due in 2025.

“My resolve to fight is even stronger. I am deeply humbled and grateful and thankful by your vote of confidence in my team and I,” she told cheering supporters at her constituency office in Siparia on Sunday night.

“I am so proud of the UNC family,” she continued, thanking members who braved the inclement weather to cast their vote. 

Persad-Bissessar, who defeated her sole challenger, Dr. Fuad Khan, has consecutively held the position of party leader since ousting Basdeo Panday in 2010.

She now has her eyes set on returning to government, telling her supporters: “Local or general (election), we are ready.“

“As your leader, my plan is to ensure that any future government that I lead will work to create a better future for you and your family, by investing heavily in education and health. Creating jobs, so you can provide for your family and plan for the future, and helping you to feel in your homes and on the streets. So Mr. Rowley and team, here we come!” she said. 

To her detractors, she extended an olive branch, but cautioned that respect of the party’s members must be top priority.

“The UNC membership is very educated and discerning. Today, the rank and file members of our party showed that they will never accept persons who ridicule them, disrespect them, belittle the membership and then ask the same party to let them lead,” she said.