United Democratic Party’s Deputy Leader (UDP), John Pinder suggests the party has a lot of catching up to do for the upcoming general elections.

Mr. Pinder acknowledged yesterday that the UDP has failed to hold up its relevancy in the race for the upcoming election, but he says its due to the failed plan of the three Opposition parties proposed coalition.

“We were in some discussions in relations to trying to bring all of these various parties together, of bringing one strong opposition force we were trying to trying to make some arrangements whereas the strongest candidate in each area would’ve been the person chosen to nominate on nomination day,” he said.

“That discussion isn’t going as well as we wanted it to go, its caused us as the UDP to slow down in naming candidates.”

He claims, “We didn’t want to put the senior opposition in terms of the FNM and the DNA whereas too many persons wouldn’t have been accommodated. So as early as possibly this week, we will roll out seven candidates, and as early as next week we should have a total of 25 candidates.”

Although Mr. Pinder acknowledges the parties late start, he assures, “The race is not to the swiftest but to the one who endures to the end.”

Mr. Pinder also spoke to his constituency of Fox Hill, where he is running as minister, saying he plans to bring a sense of hope to those residents, as he feels they have been neglected.

“To bring about economic freedom for Fox Hillians, the unemployment rate is kind of high, young males are unemployable and unemployed, and so I believe it is important for me to look at how we can best look into persons to be trained to be disciplined enough to be employed,” he said.

Mr. Pinder says his concern is the lack of efficient youth programs in Fox Hill, that he wants to implement for the good of the youth and to take young males off the street and give them a sense of purpose.