Source: Hinduism Today: Anil Mahabir, Trinidad Correspondent
PORT LOUIS, TRINIDAD: Trinidadians will go to the polls to elect a new government on Monday, December 11, 2000. The two major parties in the race are: the UNC, widely touted as “the Indian/Hindu party” which is led by Basdeo Panday and the PNM, which is seen as the “African/Christian party” led by Patrick Manning. The country is presently run by a Hindu Prime minister in Basdeo Panday. All the recent polls seem to suggest that the incumbent government (the UNC) will return to office, however, it is premature to come to a conclusion. The PNM has vowed to re-visit all the legislation passed “by the Hindu Prime Minister,” especially the “blasphemous libel law” which makes it illegal for anyone to publicly criticize any of the world’s religions. The PNM only wants it to protect the “Christian faith against the pagans”–as did the original English Common Law version in force up to this year. Things are peaceful in a country which has never seen a single act of election violence even when, in 1995, the country got its first Hindu Prime Minister.