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SAFRAZ ALI, former UNC councillor for San Juan East (2016-2019), told Newsday on Monday he had just filed his papers on Nomination Day to stand for the El Socorro/Aranguez North seat on the San Juan-Laventille Regional Corporation (SJLRC).
He will be a candidate for the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) party in the August 14 local government elections.
Also filing for the PDP, led by PSA former leader Watson Duke, was Joanne "Jo Jo" Hoyte, for the Barataria seat on SJLRC.
Ali said El Socorro/Aranguez North was created in 2019 and was largely the successor seat to the San Juan East seat, containing a substantial number of the same polling divisions.
He said he had heard a clarion call among friends and relatives in the area for him to put himself forward as a candidate, even after the UNC had not selected him but had reselected its incumbent as candidate. Ali thought he could offer better representation.
"I represented a substantial part of the electoral district in 2016-2019. The people on the ground know me very well."
He said even after the UNC did not reselect him in 2019, he had continued to work in the area, and his name had grown.
Ali also strongly admired Duke.
"I have been looking at Mr Watson Duke and seeing where he has the potential to unite the races, which is sorely lacking now, where the divisions are too great.
"Watson Duke is walking the ground. He is pulling the youth vote towards himself and his party. I am seeing a political tsunami being created."
Newsday asked if the PDP had suffered after THA members in Tobago resigned from the party, along with some party officials.
Ali said, "Mr Duke is a very humble guy. His drive to see the people is phenomenal."
He said Duke knew grassroots politics, offered humility and servant leadership, and could connect with people in a way the PNM and UNC could not.
Newsday asked if Ali's candidacy would suffer from the defections from the PDP in Tobago.
Ali said, "His base is expanding in Trinidad. From Laventille his support is spreading eastwards. A political tsunami is starting.
"We have a wonderful opportunity to send a message that things are not right in this country. There is crime, joblessness and despair.
"The country needs a change at a national and a local level."
Newsday asked if Duke also enjoyed grassroots support in Tobago despite the high-level defections from the PDP in Tobago.
Ali replied, "Most definitely. If a THA election were called today, I am very confident that Mr Duke and the PDP would win."
In a personal note, Ali volunteered to say some critics of himself had accused him of being power-hungry and joining the PDP only after not being selected by the UNC.
"It is nothing like that. If the UNC had got a better candidate I would not do this."
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