Rookie PNM MP says "divine order" helped party lose election

The defeat of the People's National Movement (PNM) in the May 24 general election was part of a "divine order".

That's the view of Patricia McIntosh, the MP for Port-of-Spain North/St Ann’s West who beat the UNC’s Annabelle Davis.

The former principal of St Francois Girls’ High School in Belmont told the Trinidad Guardian, "There is a divine order in all that has happened...It is Manning’s time to bow out...things take place, within a divine order. It’s now time for a new leader."

She said no one is perfect and admitted that "certain things went wrong" in the campaign.

She told the paper she will support Diego Martin West MP Dr Keith Rowley for the new leader of the party.

“We have to dedicate ourselves to fulfilling the needs of our constituents...I came to serve my people and make a better life for my people," she told the paper and insisted that her ambition was never to become a Minister of Education.

McIntosh said Patrick Manning or top members of the PNM did not invite her to get involved. That, she said, came from the people in the constituency who "called me to represent them."

She said she didn't know people in the PNM hierarchy. "I didn’t know any of them...I did not even know Manning," she told the Guardian.

McIntosh boasted that she performer "almost as well as Manning" in the election and did "much better than a lot of veterans. As a newcomer, I did well. I have to thank my constituents for placing their faith in me. I thank God," she said.

Manning won his San Fernando East seat with 9,736 votes; the COP’s Carol Cuffy-Dowlat got 6,109.

She told the Guardian she plans to fight for her constituents and those who did not vote for her. "The people gave me a mandate. With the help of God, I will fulfill his mandate, too. I am a spiritual person. I am happy with what God gave me.”

She thinks Rowley would make a good leader. "He has the most experience (among the MPs) and he can represent himself and the issues. He has shown that in Parliament before," she said.

McIntosh added, "We have to support him in our effort to rebuild the PNM and to have proper representation. Rowley is capable of taking up the reins, now that Manning’s reign has come to an end.”