Click to view full size

There was a Car­ni­val-like at­mos­phere in Bel­mont yes­ter­day, as both Port-of-Spain North/St Ann's West can­di­date Stu­art Young and Pro­gres­sive Em­pow­er­ment Par­ty (PEP) leader Phillip Ed­ward Alexan­der made their way to Bel­mont Sec­ondary School to file their nom­i­na­tion pa­pers.

Alexan­der was ac­com­pa­nied by se­nior Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) mem­ber Wade Mark. He em­braced var­i­ous el­e­ments of T&T's vi­brant cul­ture as he walked along Bel­mont Cir­cu­lar Road, flanked by a few dozen sup­port­ers car­ry­ing a ban­ner em­bla­zoned with the words “Phillip will fix it.” The pro­ces­sion fea­tured moko jumbies, clas­si­cal In­di­an dancers, a red dev­il fire breather, and a fire breather on stilts.

Adding to the live­ly scene, drum­mers ac­com­pa­nied a mu­sic truck blast­ing Alexan­der’s own song. Af­ter fil­ing his pa­pers, Alexan­der lin­gered in the hope of en­coun­ter­ing PNM sup­port­ers and Young. How­ev­er, he even­tu­al­ly left, ac­cus­ing Young of be­ing too afraid to face him.