Princes Town North MP Subhas Panday claimed yesterday that Jack Warner had attempted to influence the vote in the Rio Claro/Mayaro Regional Corporation that would have seen the PNM take control of the UNC-held corporation.

Panday and several senior UNC politicians attended yesterday’s election in Rio Claro.

He said he had information that Warner was trying to break up the corporation, and had he succeeded, it would have meant two defeats for the UNC in consecutive days.

Warner denied having a hand in yesterday’s events.

On Monday, Warner, the MP for Chaguanas West, influenced the votes in the Chaguanas Borough Corporation that saw the ousting of Suruj Rambachan as mayor, to be replaced by a political unknown.

The Rio Claro/Mayaro Regional Corporation, at the last Local Government election, saw a 3-3 tie, with the UNC gaining control when two members of the public picked the names of two UNC-suggested aldermen from a ceramic bowl.

Yesterday, after police responded to a bomb threat at the corporation building, councillors agreed to vote for two aldermen, the UNC’s Ramlochan Panchoo and the PNM’s Alvin Moonan. Among the PNM councillors is Dansam Dhansook.

The Express was told that the Local Government politicians had agreed before-hand that there would be no tie-breaker and that the status quo would remain until the Local Government election was held after the reforms were completed.

However, all the councillors voted for the PNM’s pick, while only the UNC councillors voted for their pick.

Political observers said the PNM now had the power this Friday to appoint their alderman as Chairman, thereby taking control of the corporation.