After much anticipation of the outcome of the Caribbean Shores convention to select a United Democratic Party (UDP) candidate for area representative from three contenders — Santiago “Santi” Castillo, Jr., Ann-Marie Williams and Chandra Nisbet-Cansino — “Santi” topped the polls on Sunday.
A total of 1,680 voters turned out — 583 more than the last UDP Caribbean Shores convention on December 5, 2010. Santi Castillo received 907 votes, soundly surpassing his competitors; Nisbet-Cansino got 616 votes, and Williams got 137 votes.
The convention started at 9:00 a.m. and ended at 5:00 p.m., after which the officials counted all of the votes and divulged the results around 6:30 p.m.
From the onset of the convention at the voting station, Trinity Methodist School, it was evident that the size of Castillo’s team almost doubled that of his competitors’ teams; his supporters were everywhere, draped in his “Vote Santi” t-shirts.
High-profile supporters of Santi Castillo who were present at the polls included attorney Dean Lindo, councilor Roger Espejo, and Minister of Works, Anthony “Boots” Martinez.
Cansino’s major supporters included Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s wife, Kim Simplis-Barrow, who made a short appearance to cast her vote before leaving for Miami, Minister of Defence and Immigration, Hon. Carlos Perdomo, and a few others.
At the convention, as was the case throughout the campaign, Williams’ camp seemed deficient of heavyweight party support, but she was backed in her efforts by a team from her National Women’s Commission Department.
When AMANDALA asked the candidates a little after noon to assess the progression of the day’s activities and their overall strategy, Castillo conveyed his excitement and told us that his game plan was to get as many of his supporters as possible from their homes to vote for him. He noted as well that he had nothing but respect for the two female contenders in the race and that he had maintained a friendly relationship with them throughout the process.
When we spoke to her, Williams had still maintained optimism about the outcome of the convention, but also expressed her discomfort with the “in-your-face” approaches of some of her competitors’ supporters.
Cansino, for her part, was also excited when we spoke to her, and confirmed that the three contenders in the race had remained friendly in their interaction with each other.
Later on in the day, amidst the intermittent rain, the mood seemed to have shifted and the word floating around was that “Santi” seemed to have already “taken it.”
Still, the final 30 minutes of counting was a bit nerve-racking, since Cansino had maintained a relatively close second place behind Castillo.
We spoke with the UDP Mayor, Zenaida Moya, who, although not a resident of the area, was at the convention.
“I must say that everybody did a good job,” she said. “Everybody brought out who they needed to bring out, and it was a bit fierce in some instances because people were really pushing to ensure that they hooked on to their potential voter and walked with that person to vote. But it went well; I think everyone was very respectful of each other.
“From what I see out there I believe most people had on “Santi’s” shirt and if that sends a message, I believe that might be it [the winner].”
After the votes had been tallied and Minister of Education, Hon. Patrick Faber, declared Santi Castillo to be the winner, the “sea of red,” Castillo’s supporters, screamed, cried and burst into jubilant antics – previews of a celebratory motorcade through the area that was to follow.
Williams first addressed the crowd after the results were announced. She thanked everyone for the opportunity to be a contender in the race and went on to say, “Although I didn’t win, I want to say thanks for all those who took the time out to vote for me. I want to congratulate both Chandra and Santino and pledge my support,” she told the crowd.
Cansino then spoke to the crowd, and thanked all her supporters. “It was a great experience,” she went on to say. She then pledged to work with “Santi” and the UDP “in bringing Caribbean Shores to the party.”
Castillo then addressed his supporters: “First of all, let me say that I want to thank both Ann-Marie and Chandra for their support and for a wonderful campaign, which ran very cleanly. I want to thank all the camps, theirs and mine. I want to give special thanks to both my family and you, the people. Without you this would not have been possible.
“And last but not least,” he added, “we need the sixteen hundred [and seven] of you to come here the next time there is an election, to vote for the United Democratic Party against the People’s United Party candidate [Anthony Mahler]”.
In another interview, Castillo said that he was humbled by the experience and by the outcome of the convention.