Port-of-Spain (Trinidad): Prime Minister Patrick Manning and his allies have claimed victory in general elections in this oil- and gas-rich Caribbean nation, as preliminary results showed his party retaining control of parliament with an 11-seat majority.

Manning s ruling People s National Movement appeared to win 26 of the House's 41 seats in Monday s vote, compared with 15 for the United National Congress Alliance, according to the island s Elections and Boundaries Commission. The UNC conceded defeat.

Trinidad s election panel was expected to certify the tally yesterday. A re-count was under way for two districts where the UNC appeared to win narrow victories, election officer Roy Panchan said. "The election battle has been hard fought," Manning told cheering supporters in a victory speech after the figures were announced. "Let tomorrow be a new beginning."

During six years in power, Manning's administration launched construction projects and social programs across the two-island nation of 1.3 million people, the leading supplier of liquid natural gas to the United States.
UNC leader Basdeo Panday, who led the country from 1995 to 2001 as the first premier of East Indian descent, acknowledged defeat yesterday and blamed the upstart Congress of the People for splitting opposition votes.

A self-styled multiracial party launched a year ago by former UNC chief Winston Dookeran, the Congress of the People sought to upend the country's political status quo - the two main parties, the UNC and PNM, have traditionally been formed largely along racial lines between people of East Indian and African descent.

Source : PTI