THE PNM has so far selected 32 candidates for next year’s general election when 41 constituencies are due to be contested.
These were listed in a statement on December 4.
On December 2, the party called for nominations for the constituencies of Tobago East and Tobago West, and reopened nominations for the constituencies of La Brea and Laventille East/Morvant, with submission for all seats to be made 12 noon on December 20.
The statement said the PNM will field 41 “competent candidates” for the general election, to offer “credible representation” thereby offering all of the people in Trinidad and Tobago, in every single constituency, credible options for effective representation.
Newsday sought to explore the electoral landscape in the Diego Martin seats as of December 4.
Minister of Communications Symon de Nobriga, the Diego Martin Central MP, when asked if he would consider offering himself for renomination, replied yes. Saying party groups had inquired of him, he told the Newsday he was very willing, while acknowledging the selection was up to the constituency executive and the party’s screening committee.
Finance Minister Colm Imbert – as has long become the norm – issued an irate social media post to confirm his intention to seek renomination, while criticising a news reporter for inquiring of the Diego Martin North East constituency executive.
Otherwise, the Newsday had sought to inquire of constituency chairman Spencer Tardieu but repeated calls to his phone plus inquiries via WhatsApp went unanswered.
Imbert has long blocked reporters from his mobile phone and from WhatsApp and in some cases from his X account, so he cannot be contacted directly. Yet whenever he takes offence to any story about him or his ministry, he uses social media to blast the very same reporters whom he blocked and thus prevented from getting his comment.
Newsday spoke to Jackie Lazarus, chairman of the Diego Martin West constituency, the seat held by the prime minister, in light of Dr Rowley alluding to his “swan song” during his contribution to the budget debate in the House of Representatives on October 10.
At that sitting, the PM identified with UNC Mayaro MP Rushton Paray who also signalled his swan song.
Rowley had said, “I too, may be a swan. But ladies and gentlemen, colleagues in this House, as long as I could leave here having done the best for the people of Trinidad and Tobago, it doesn’t matter when I leave. But I will leave with my head held high!
“I don’t know how much longer I will have in this Parliament, but I have done my duty and I have kept the course.
“I have run the race. I look forward not for a pot of gold, but for my family, at the end of this rainbow.”
Lazarus suggested to Newsday that it was still early days on Rowley.
“The party has not called for nominations in the Diego Martin areas as yet and there is no vacancy at the moment.
“So we have not activated any activity that does not include the current MP as the MP for the area. Until such time as we can see it is formally an
