PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, (CMC) – The two main contenders for the government of Trinidad and Tobago Saturday appealed to supporters to vote them into office even as the latest opinion poll published here Sunday showed that the race is still too close to call.

Both the incumbent coalition People’s Partnership and the main opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) held final rallies a few miles from each other along the east-west corridor hoping to get undecided voters into their camps ahead of Monday’s general elections.

But while Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar and PNM leader Dr Keith Rowley were urging supporters to ensure victory, the Nigel Henry/Solutions by Simulation (SIS) pre-election tracking poll published in the Sunday Express newspaper said both parties were capable of winning 18 seats each with the remaining five to decide the outcome of the election.  In the 2010 general elections the coalition had won 29 of the 41 seats.

“Poll results project that the winning party is likely to capture 21 or 22 seats,” SIS said after interviewing 1,997 adults by telephone during the period August 25 to September 3. The poll has a margin of minus or plus two per cent.

The pollsters found that the coalition People’s Partnership would receive 51 per cent of the votes when respondents were asked which party they would support in the general election while the PNM got 48 per cent.

“However, when voters were asked who they think would win in their district, the result was reversed with 37 per cent believing the PNM would win, 36 per cent the People’s Partnership and 25 per cent saying both major parties had an equal chance of success.”

Prime Minister Persad Bissessar, who is leading the coalition comprising the United National Congress (UNC), the Congress of the People (COP), the Tobago organisation of the People (TOP) and the National Joint Action Movement (NJAC) into the election urged supporters to return her administration to office.

“Do not take a decision you will live to regret. Stick on the right path to a better future.

“Stay with me, stay with the plan, stay on the road to a better tomorrow,” she said promising voters that her government “will remove VAT (value added tax) from utility bills for pensioners…create over 1,000 new jobs by establishing three economic zones…provide a tablet for every primary school student …(and) take a zero-tolerance approach to crime by requiring each police station to meet specific crime reduction targets”.

She said a Ministry of Defence would be established based on the new threats and clear and present danger all nations face both in border protection and problems encountered with illegal entry of weapons and drugs and human smuggling.

“I will never leave you, not in the worst of times. I will stay with you in service until the day when there are no more days,, until I cross  the River Jordan and my ashes find their way to the River Ganges,” she told supporters as she sought their support for another five-year term at the head of the government.

But Rowley told PNM supporters that the government was bankrupt of ideas and the latest figures released by the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago showed both the Finance Minister Larry Howai and the government itself had been lying to the population.

“Last week the Minister of Finance said to us, we expected a deficit of four billion dollars (One TT dollar =US$0.16 cents), but we only recorded a deficit of one billion.

“Today it has been revealed that the Minister of Finance lied to the people of Trinidad and Tobago. The Central bank revealed that the country’s overall deficit has doubled from one billion to TT$2.17 billion,” Rowley said, adding “If the Minister of Finance could be so boldfaced to tell you such unvarnished lies, what business you have considering him as a minister,” Rowley asked supporters.

“Kamla Persad Bissessar and Larry Howai have a plan to bankrupt this country. I am appealing to the people of this country to save us from Kamla and Larry Howai,” he said.

In his address, Rowley also urged the supporters to reject the government’s position that everyone in Trinidad and Tobago is corrupt.

This government is about self-enrichment and making millionaires of their friends. There is one lawyer who is under criminal investigation, yet every time the government has a case, the UNC keep calling him over and over again.”

Rowley said that it was strange throughout the three month campaign none of the government ministers took to the podium to detail their successes “but they are the one who would run the country if you put your X anywhere expect the baliser”.

Rowley told supporters that there was light at the end of the tunnel adding “let’s go do this together, let’s go and save Trinidad and Tobago”.

The Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) said just over 1.09 million people are eligible to cast ballots on Monday and that there are more than 2000 polling stations scattered across the two islands.

The polls are being monitored by teams from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Commonwealth.