Election Raises Racial Tensions

Trinidad and Tobago voters cast ballots in an election that has increased tensions between descendants of African slaves and East Indian indentured laborers.

The vote appeared to be a referendum on Prime Minister Basdeo Panday, who called the early election after dissent within his own United National Congress party over alleged corruption threatened to end its slim majority in Parliament. Panday won a second term last year.

Panday supporters say his party has stimulated business and brought electricity, water and other services to poor areas. Opponents accuse the government of corruption and say jobs in the government and state-subsidized sugar industry have been reserved for ethnic East Indians.