Ex-minister, analyst: PNM must call convention on new leader

FORMER People's National Movement (PNM) treasurer and CEO of the UWI Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business Mariano Browne says for the PNM to have a good chance at winning the next election, it must select an official political leader.

This, he said, could be done through a special convention.

The Prime Minister has said he intends to step down from his post and will not run for re-election as an MP in this year's general election.

Browne said, “They have to get their act together first. If you go in with an interim leader and he wins, what happens then? Is that the best alternative? Or do you want to go into an election campaign with the party unified behind a leader?”

In a phone conversation with Newsday on January 5, Browne said the PNM is in new constitutional territory, as this will be the first time in history that a prime minister has stepped down from his position in an election year.

Last year, in October, the PNM's National Convention was postponed amid rumours that certain elements were trying to take control of the candidate-selection process.

The party does not hold a convention or internal election during an election year, but Browne said that may have to change.

“It is true that the PNM does not hold a convention in the election year, but the Prime Minister has changed the convention.

“No member of the PNM has ever resigned in an election year, either. So we are in new territory. If he is to resign as Prime Minister, how can he be political leader of the party? That has to be clarified.”

Senior lecturer in the UWI Department of Political Science Bishnu Ragoonath said there are a few possible avenues that could be taken by the party, the first of which would be to petition the President to make a person of the party’s choice the interim leader.

“When Eric Williams died as prime minister, the then chairman of the party went to the President and said the party still has the majority in the Lower House and to that extent the party recommends that you appoint George Chambers as the prime minister.

“He selected Chambers, notwithstanding that Kamaludeen Mohammed and Errol Mahabir were senior to George Chambers, but the chairman of the party advised the President that the party remains united and will follow the directives of the chairman.”

He said, this time around, the chairman of the party is Stuart Young.

“He could meet with the President and tell her the PNM will like to nominate or would like to support Mr X or Mrs X with a member of Parliament to be the sitting prime minister until the party elects a new leader.”

But Browne said while a petition to the President is possible, it would be “awkward” to have a prime minister and a political leader who are two different people.

“Let’s just say that you satisfy that constitutional provision (by selecting an interim prime minister). That does not satisfy the constitutional provision in the party’s manifesto, because you now have a PM who is speaking on behalf of the party, but he has not been appointed political leader.”

He pointed out two situations where that has happened before.

The first was in Barbados, where, in 2000, then opposition leader David Thompson stepped down as political leader but maintained his role as political leader.

He also noted that in 2021, the PDP won the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) elections with the political leader of the party being Watson Duke, but the Chief Secretary of the THA was Farley Augustine

“And we all know how that turned out…” Browne said.

He also pointed to the recent US presidential election, where President Joe Biden announced weeks before the Democratic National Convention that he would not be going up for the next election, opening the door for his running mate Kamala Harris to represent the Democrats in the 2024 presidential election. The Democratic Party ultimately lost the election.

Ragoonauth said the PNM could also rally behind one person as prime minister as early as Monday, the final day of a two-day PNM retreat in Tobago on January 5 and 6.

But he also said the PNM's general council may not let it pass that easily.

“One of the things that could immediately come to the fore is that as soon as they come out of the retreat and say out of the 21 sitting members of the Parliament, we all agree to support Mr X or Mrs X as the incoming prime minister.

“I still expect that members of the general council may feel that they cannot be bypassed with the party’s chairman selecting the interim prime minister, particularly when the current executive’s term has ended. We really have to wait and see how this plays out.”

Dr Keith Rowley, who turns 76 on October 24, announced he would step down as Prime Minister “before the end of the legal limits of this term,” as well as leave political life, in a statement at the end of a media conference in Tobago.

The announcement came amid several critical events. Screenings for candidates for the party’s two Tobago seats in the upcoming general election were about to be held and an election is constitutionally due this year.

The announcement also came days after the government implemented a state of emergency to tackle specific criminal elements.