SAN Fernando East MP Brian Manning vowed to advocate to return the PNM to its previous, long-standing delegate system and to ditch the one-man, one-vote system introduced by former political leader Dr Keith Rowley. He spoke to reporters as he was about to enter Balisier House, Port of Spain, on April 30 for a PNM general council meeting.

"What I am going to call for absolutely, is an end to the one-man, one-vote system. It is absolutely my view that it has destroyed the party system within the PNM."

He said the delegate system had given the PNM an advantage over rival parties since TT's Independence in 1962.

"The one-man, one-vote must be removed.

"The delegate system that we had ensured that persons who were very active in the party, who are contributing to the development of the party are the ones who have a voice and a say, in terms of what's happening in the party and who should be leader. That's how it should be."

Manning paid tribute to outgoing prime minister Stuart Young, saying he had a role to play to rebuild the party.

"Regardless of what has happened, he is a very capable and hard-working individual who has contributed a lot to the party and to the government."

Regarding the general election results, Manning said, "The people have spoken."

He said, "It's time for us to listen to what's being said, to regroup, do some introspection and decide what it is we must do to better serve the people of TT.

"A lot of people believe it was a top- down approach in terms of governance and how the party was operating."

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