PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – The two main political parties contesting the general election here were statistically in a dead heat as voting continued here on Monday night.

The incumbent People’s Partnership of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar was trailing with 19 of the 41 seats, while the main opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) was ahead in 22.

Opinion polls had suggested that the elections would be a very tight race with the outcome resting on at least three constituencies along the east west corridor.

Both Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar and the PNM leader Dr Keith Rowley were leading comfortably in their respective constituencies.

Persad-Bissessar has in excess of 12,000 votes in the Siparia constituency where she is facing a challenge from the PNM’s Vidya Deokiesingh, who is yet to muster 1,000 votes.

In the case of Rowley, who is contesting the Diego Martin West constituency, which he has represented for more than two decades, his five outer challengers are a distance away.

The Elections and Boundaries Commission is yet to declare any of the 41 seats contested.