PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (CMC) – The leader of Trinidad and Tobago’s main opposition United National Congress (UNC), Kamla Persad Bissessar, as expected, won the Siparia seat and is predicting that the party is on the verge of winning Monday’s general elections.

According to the preliminary figures released here so far, Persad Bissessar, who has represented the constituency since 1995, has received 9,565 votes as compared with 1,921 for Natasha Mohammed of the People’s National Movement (PNM) and no votes for Judy Sookdeo of the Patriotic Front.

“First let me thank Almighty God. We have had a very very clean campaign, very strong campaign. I feel very confident of a very good result,” said the 73-year-old Persad Bissessar.

“Let me thank the people of Siparia, and at this time, I can declare Siparia safely won. So I can declare the first seat in this election,” she said, adding that the feedback from the other constituencies “is very very good.

“The trend is looking very good for us and I think we are set to win this general election” she said, thanking the coalition partners “who played a great role.

‘The overall outcome is that we are going to win this general election. Tobago is doing very well and the marginal corridor seats, the counting is coming in real good,” Persad Bissessar added.

There are 41 seats at stake in the general election, with 17 political parties and three independents vying for control.