2022 People's National Movement leadership election

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2022 People's National Movement leadership election
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Leader of the PNM before election

Keith Rowley

 Elected Leader of the PNM

TBD

2022 People's National Movement leadership election
DateTBA 2022
Resigning leaderKeith Rowley
Party leader and Prime Minister Keith Rowley in May 2016

The 2022 People's National Movement (PNM) leadership election, the last one for the PNM before the 2025 general election, has not yet been launched, but the current party leader and Prime Minister Keith Rowley has indicated he would most likely not seek to lead the party into the next general election.[1] Rowley made these comments in his victory speech on the night of the 2020 Trinidad and Tobago general election, where the PNM secured a second mandate under his leadership but with the slimmest majority for a government in two decades. In the 2020 general election campaign, he indicated that he would have stood down had the PNM lost.[2]

This leadership election follows growing discontent for the PNM government and successive electoral decline in support since 2016, with the party making no inroads since the 2015 Trinidad and Tobago general election, recording net voter and seat share losses and no net gains in the 2016 Trinidadian local elections, 2017 Tobago House of Assembly election, 2019 Trinidadian local elections, 2020 Trinidad and Tobago general election, and the most recent electoral defeat at the polls in the 2021 Trinidadian local government by-elections where the party lost the Arima Central seat for the first time since 2013[3] and the 2021 Tobago House of Assembly election where the party lost four seats, winning 6/12 seats in the Tobago House of Assembly despite its vote share being reduced from 2017 by only 4.3%.[4]

The three persons viewed as the potential leadership successor for the party include Housing Minister Pennelope Beckles, seen as one of the only members which can unite the electorate[5][6] and if elected, will make history by becoming the party's first female leader nationally and second overall after incumbent PNM Tobago Council leader Tracy Davidson-Celestine, and will also mark the first time in history that all parties, both chambers, in addition to the Presidency, in the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago are led by women, the other two candidates include Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi who received the highest total number of votes in the 2014 party election despite contesting a non-leadership position[7][8] and Energy Minister Stuart Young who has been given the informal title of "Minister of Everything", both could potentially make history by becoming the party's first leader of Asian descent.[9][10][11]

Prospective Candidates[]

The following is a list of the only three frontrunners for the party's leadership who are seen as the most capabale of winning over the Trinidadian and Tobagonian electorate after rapid successive decline in support for the PNM government in both vote and seat shares in every election since 2016:[12][13][4][14][15]

Name Offices held[16] Constituency
Female portrait placeholder cropped.jpg Pennelope Beckles Minister of Housing and Urban Development (2020–present)

Vice President of the Seventy-fourth session of the United Nations General Assembly (2019-2020)

President of UN Women (2018-2019)

Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago to the United Nations (2016-2020)

Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate (2010-2013)

Deputy Speaker (2007-2010)

Minister of Public Utilities and the Environment (2003-2007)

Minister of Culture and Tourism (2002-2003)

Minister of Social Development (2001-2002)

Opposition Member (2001)

Opposition Senator (1995-1998)

Arima
Faris Al-Rawi, 2017.png Faris Al-Rawi Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago (2015–present)

Opposition Senator (2010-2015)

San Fernando West
Male portrait placeholder cropped.jpg Stuart Young Minister of Energy and Energy Industries (2021–present)

Minister of National Security (2018-2021)

Minister of Communications (2018-2019)

Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister (2016–present)

Minister in the Office of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs (2015-2016)

Opposition Senator (2014-2018)

Opinion polling[]

Results[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "ROWLEY HOLDS ON". Trinidad Express Newspapers. Archived from the original on 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  2. ^ "Rowley on course for another term as T&T Prime Minister". www.loopcayman.com. Archived from the original on 2020-09-26. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  3. ^ McLeod, Sheri-Kae (2021-01-27). "Trinidad's Ruling Party Loses Ground in Local Government Elections". Caribbean News. Archived from the original on 2021-01-27. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  4. ^ a b "PNM loses ground but holds on to popular vote". www.looptt.com. Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  5. ^ "Jamaica Observer Limited". Jamaica Observer. Archived from the original on 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  6. ^ "Kamla gets top marks for unity: Poll". United National Congress. 2014-03-13. Archived from the original on 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  7. ^ "Log into Facebook". Facebook. Archived from the original on 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-04-28. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  8. ^ Alexander, Gail. "Al-Rawi gets more votes than Rowley". www.guardian.co.tt. Archived from the original on 2021-04-30. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  9. ^ "Young, moving on up". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. 2018-08-11. Archived from the original on 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  10. ^ "Kamla to Minister Stuart Young: Come clean on NGC Dividends". United National Congress. 2017-10-08. Archived from the original on 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  11. ^ "Rowley wins a second term by a tight margin". country.eiu.com. Archived from the original on 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  12. ^ "PNM loses local government by-election race 3-2 to UNC". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. 2021-01-26. Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  13. ^ "DUKE WINS 4 MORE SEATS IN TOBAGO – CP News". cpnews1.com. Archived from the original on 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  14. ^ "PNM loses ground: 7-7 LGE tie as UNC makes inroads". Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. 2019-12-03. Archived from the original on 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  15. ^ "Freedom FM – 106.5 | Government suffers losses in Trinidad local elections; opposition gains ground". Archived from the original on 2021-04-28. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  16. ^ "Trinidad and Tobago Parliament". www.ttparliament.org. Archived from the original on 2016-12-11. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
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