Machel Montano narrowly walked away with the 2025 Road March Title for his hit ‘Pardy’, with Ian ‘Bunji Garlin’ Alvarez taking the 2nd and 3rd spots.
At a Media Conference on Wednesday, TUCO President Ainsley King said ‘Pardy’ was played a total of 267 times at judging points across Carnival Monday and Tuesday.
Ian ‘Bunji Garlin’ Alvarez was close behind with his song, ‘Carry It,’ being played 253 times. His other song, ‘Thousand,’ was played 22 times.
Mr. King denied claims that there is a Soca Mafia or suspected interference with the final results. He said the Road March is simply tabulating the results.
“They are just counting the amount of plays, so that is a very simple process and straightforward, and where the Road March is concerned, I could declare that everything was clear. There’s nothing like any mafia in the Road March because I don’t think anybody will take a chance like that.”
Mr. King also addressed reports of a social media video that surfaced on Monday showing one of its tabulators saying that a “particular competitor” appeared to be in the lead in the Road March race.
“There was a breach in our code of conduct, right, we have dealt with that. It was surprising for us, but we sincerely apologise for the development, right? But we are going to put things in place to make sure that that doesn’t reoccur, but I think that they were briefed, so what else could we do?”
TUCO confirmed via a media release on Wednesday morning that the tabulator in question was relieved of her duties and said that her opinion was “irrelevant” to the results of the competition since the results were based entirely on statistics.
Via his social media account, Montano said he’s honoured to share his 11th Road March win, now tied with the great Aldwyn ‘Lord Kitchener’ Roberts. He also thanked revellers for their support in making it a ‘Pardy.’
In other results, The Lost Tribe, with its portrayal “Lost In Time,” copped the top spot in the Senior Large Band of the Year for the third consecutive year. K2K Alliance & Partners won the Senior Medium Band of the Year, and Tribal Connection Cultural Promotions walked away with top honours in the Senior Small Band of the Year. Moko SomoKow took the Senior Mini Band of the Year title.