Partnership leaders meet again; PM confident that all will be well

PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar: "There is a strong commitment among all the leaders..."

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar told reporters Tuesday that she is "optimistic" that Wednesday's meeting of the leaders of the People's Partnership will resolve the controversial matter of the San Fernando mayorship.

"I am upbeat things will work and we can sort things out between us as leaders tomorrow," she said Tuesday at the Hilton Trinidad following the launch of the Caribbean Investment Forum (CIF).

"There is a strong commitment among all the leaders, based on the previous meeting, to make things work because we do believe that we are doing well," she said.

The leaders of the partnership have held two meetings on the matter and all of them are suggesting that Wednesday's meeting would end the impasse.

The issue arose when Marlene Coudray announced last month that she had left the Congress of the People (COP) to run for a post of deputy leader of the United National Congress (UNC) in the UNC's internal elections on March 24. She won the election as a candidate of the "Nationalists" slate, led by UNC deputy leader Dr Roodal Moonilal.

COP reacted angrily to the move by Coudray, saying that Coudray should be fired as mayor and replaced with a COP nominee. However, Coudray pointed out that it was the UNC that proposed her for mayor in 2010 so she was not a "COP mayor".

COP political leader Prakash Ramadhar initially threatened to reconsider his party's association with the partnership if the matter was not resolved to his satisfaction. However, he softened his position later and pledged his and COP's continued commitment to the partnership.

Reporters asked Persad-Bissessar Tuesday why Ramadhar changed his position. "You will have to ask them," she responded. "I won't know until I go in there tomorrow what will happen."

Related: Commentary: COP leader returning home, hopes to end impasse over Coudray matter