CANDIDATE for leadership of the PNM Ronald Boynes is calling on its 100,000 members to vote for him to save not only the party but also the country.

In a media release on Friday, Boynes said the voters' list he received lacked contact information for many of the members. He said while his list was a hard copy without contact numbers, other candidates were calling members to canvass support, which he said is an unfair advantage.

“Despite the shortcomings of the two previous internal elections in 2014 and 2018, at least the voters’ list was delivered in Excel spreadsheet format, and there were phone numbers available and more accurate addresses.”

Like his competitor Karen Nunez-Tesheira, Boynes raised queries over the elections spanning three days, November 26 and 27 and December 4, and the security of the ballot boxes for the three days.

On October 14 Nunez-Tesheira, through her attorney Egon N Embrak, sent the PNM’s Election Supervisory Committee a pre-action protocol letter threatening further action if the security of the ballot boxes is not assured.

Boynes, Nunez-Tesheira and Junior Barrack are challenging Dr Keith Rowley for leadership of the party.

In his media release, Boynes is accusing his fellow members of threatening candidates to pull out of the race and telling them if they do not, they will lose opportunities the party can provide. He even claimed workers of both URP and CEPEP had been threatened with termination if they did not vote for a particular slate.

Since filing nominations, three candidates have withdrawn: Brian Manning, who was contesting the vice-chairman position, Curtis Shade, who submitted his nomination for field officer, and Ndale Young, who sought to be the youth officer.

Boynes complained, “These elections are being conducted in an atmosphere of fear, naked aggression and intimidation. This is not the real PNM. We have to reclaim the soul of our party.

"Whenever the PNM has been at its best the nation has enjoyed peace and stability. But when, like now, there is a stranglehold on the neck of the party by a group of charlatans, the nation is also adrift, and quite probably, in grave peril.”

He encouraged the party to rescue the PNM and by extension the country “from stormy seas” by voting for him.

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