PM Kamla, Rowley meet Monday at 11:30 to discuss presidential election

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has scheduled a meeting Monday at 11.30 a.m. with Opposition Leader Keith Rowley at the Diplomatic Centre. The two leaders will discuss the People's National Movement's (PNM) recommendation for a presidential candidate.

Persad-Bissessar announced on Saturday she would meet Rowley at his "earliest convenience" on the matter. The Opposition Chief Whip, Marlene McDonald, wrote the PM on Friday asking for the meeting.

The Express newspaper quoted Rowley as saying he is attending the talks with an "open mind". McDonald is also expected to attend the talks along with the PNM's public relations officer Faris Al Rawi, and Diego Martin North East MP Colm Imbert.

The PNM has asked Persad-Bissessar to consider Justice Rolston Nelson of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as a "consensus" candidate. The party has not nominated anyone for the election on February 15.

The PM's letter inviting Rowley and his colleagues to meet said the PM agrees on the need to "involve ourselves in consensus building to choose the most appropriate nominee for the post of President of our country”.

Persad-Bissessar reiterated the statement she made on Thursday that "this choice is one that would bind us as a nation for the next five years”.

The PM has promised that her People's Partnership would nominate only one person and that she would announce the name on Monday, a day ahead of the official nomination day.

The PNM has not made any nomination. According to the constitution the nomination document for president must be signed by the candidate and 12 MPs. The PNM has 12 MPs but one of them, former party leader Patrick Manning, is on medical leave. 

The election is by an electoral college comprising all members of the Parliament and is determined by a simple majority.

Read the rules as stated in the constitution:

Feature: PP government following constitution in presidential election