PNM election screenings begin in San Fernando

THE two major political parties are getting in gear for the 2025 general election.

The People’s National Movement (PNM) demonstrated that it is on an election footing as it began its first rounds of vigorous screening in San Fernando on August 23.

Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has already said whether the election is held this year or next year, the United National Congress (UNC) is ready. She said the party will launch its campaign in September.

The PNM screening committee, headed by its political leader, the Prime Minister, began its exercise at Omardeen’s Building, Cipero Street, vetting candidates from constituencies now held by the opposition UNC.

The first four sets of candidates examined were from the constituencies of Fyzabad, Mayaro, Moruga/Tableland and Pointe-a-Pierre. The latter three are considered marginals. The PNM gained a foothold in the Moruga district when Pastor Autly Granthume won a seat on the Princes Town Regional Corporation in a June local-government by-election.

Since then, the PNM has been investing heavily in the area, hoping to wrest the seat from incumbent MP Michelle Benjamin.

Mayaro is also a bit shaky for the UNC, as is the future of current MP Rushton Paray, after he contested the party's last internal elections with a slate opposed to that of the leadership. His team failed to win any of the positions they were vying for.

PNM general secretary Foster Cummings said there are multiple candidates from each constituency who have shown interest in contesting the seats now held by the opposition.

He said screening will continue at the PNM’s Balisier House headquarters in Port of Spain, where candidates from five more constituencies will be screened on Monday.

Unlike the UNC, the PNM will contest all 41 parliamentary seats – 39 in Trinidad and two in Tobago.

Pointe-a-Pierre MP and a deputy political leader of the UNC David Lee said over 200 potential candidates have submitted their nomination papers to contest the 39 seats in Trinidad. As of now, the UNC does not intend to contest the two Tobago seats now held by the PNM.

He said while marginal constituencies cannot be taken for granted, the UNC was not daunted because it had done a lot of work in these constituencies.

He was not overly concerned by the five PNM candidates who have indicated an interest in the Pointe-a-Pierre seat, including San Fernando Greater Chamber president Kiran Singh and former Couva/Point Lisas Chamber head Mukesh Ramsingh. He said he has been on the ground working the seat and whoever the UNC selects to contest in 2025 will benefit from his investment.

Lee said Persad-Bissessar is expected to make some definitive announcements on the next election at the party’s Monday Night Report, to be held at its headquarters in Chaguanas.

Considering the PM’s assurance that no election will be held in November, Lee chalked up the early screening process and the focus on opposition-controlled constituencies as “normal rhetoric, normal strategy.”

“The PNM is just trying to excite its base as another distraction from crime and unemployment and the poor state of the economy.

“I think all eyes would be on the budget, which will be election-year budget. They stifle the country for the past four years and in this last year, before the budget, they would want to offer a bag of goodies to try to fool the people. That is the PNM normal suppression tactics.”

Adding that this is a strategy adopted by most governments, Lee defended the tenure of Persad-Bissessar’s People's Partnership, saying every year between 2010 and 2015, “Kamla could have produced every year a book of achievements.”