PNM leadership election May 18

File: PNM chairman Franlyn Khan with Political Leader keith Rowley

The People’s National Movement announced on Saturday that it would hold its internal election on May 18. That's a few days before the People's Partnership celebrates its fourth anniversary of winning the general election and taking over the government.

Party chairman Franklin Khan made the announcement after Saturday's general council meeting, noting that it would be the first time that the party is not using a delegate system to elect its leader and other executive members.

When Keith Rowley became leader of the PNM he convinced the party to change the election rules from the delegate system to a one-member, one party vote similar to what the country's two other main parties - the UNC and COP - use for their elections.

Khan acknowledged that it would take a major effort to run the election under these conditions. "Putting this one man, one vote election in place will take some effort, it will take some time. It is something new to the PNM membership, and it calls for a lot of infrastructure to be put in place,” he told reporters.

Khan said the party is already “in election mode.” 

The party has not yet published rules to govern the election. A special general council meeting will be held on Wednesday to discuss rules and regulations of the internal elections, Khan said.

One of the most important would be the definition of a member. The party has said it would allow new members to vote if the membership is approved by February 28. 

"We hope to have a preliminary list of members by April 14 and final list of electors will be published on April 30, that is the timeline that we have,” he said. 

So far there is no official challenger to Rowley, but that could change.

Penelope Beckles-Robinson is one of the names for leader that keeps coming up but so far she has made no commitment. One newspaper reported recently that there is a Manning faction that is planning to nominate a candidate and went as far as reporting that the person would be former top BPtt executive Robert Riley.

Another name that has been around is that of the former mayor of Port of Spain, Louis Lee sing. He had stated publicly that he might run for the leadership of the party.

Nomination day for the election is March 14 so everyone would know by that date whether Rowley would get re-elected unopposed or whether he would have to fight for the job.