Panday seeks clarification about Coudray's membership

Mickela Panday told reporters on Sunday she wants to see evidence to prove that San Fernando Mayor Marlene Coudray had the proper qualification to run for a post in the March 24 election of the United National Congress (UNC).

Panday, who was the MP for Oropouche West in the previous Parliament, is supporting the Generation Next slate that ran candidates in the UNC elections. All the candidates on that team lost.

Coudray contested the election on a slate led by Deputy Leader Roodal Moonilal and won one of the three deputy leader posts with more than 7,000 votes.

She had been a member of the Congress of the People (COP) and when she signed her nomination papers for the election the elections committee and Moonilal stated that she met all the conditions to qualify to run.

One critical condition was that a member seeking election to a post in the national executive had to be a financial member of the party for 12 months prior to the election. Coudray is on record as saying that she left COP in 2010 and has been a UNC member since then.

Panday is questioning whether that is so and she wants proof. Speaking at a media conference at Rienzi Complex, Couva Panday said, “We want to know whether Marlene Coudray was a member of the UNC for the past 12 months.”

She added that if she has been a UNC member then the COP should have documentation to show Coudray's membership has been revoked.

Panday stopped short of accusing the UNC of rigging the elections but said there were irregularities that the party must address. “Answers must be given and irregularities must be corrected to give integrity to the process and the result both now and in the future,” Panday said.