Some cur­rent na­tion­al ex­ec­u­tive mem­bers of the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM), in­clud­ing Wel­fare Of­fi­cer Max­ine Richards and Op­er­a­tions Of­fi­cer Irene Hinds, in­tend to con­test the posts they hold when the par­ty’s in­ter­nal elec­tion is held. Oth­ers, in­clud­ing PNM trea­sur­er Kaz­im Ho­sein, have not de­cid­ed yet on con­test­ing.

At last Sun­day’s PNM Fam­i­ly Day, Prime Min­is­ter Kei­th Row­ley an­nounced that the PNM’s na­tion­al ex­ec­u­tive elec­tions would be held at the par­ty’s con­ven­tion, which will take place soon.

The last ex­ec­u­tive elec­tion in­volv­ing 16 posts was in 2022. Con­tes­tants won with votes rang­ing from Row­ley’s 8,424 to as­sis­tant gen­er­al sec­re­tary Pa­tri­cia Alex­is’ 5,607.

Last Sun­day, PNM ex­ec­u­tive of­fi­cials said the up­com­ing in­ter­nal elec­tion would be for 12 of the 16 posts. They said the po­si­tions of po­lit­i­cal leader, chair­man, gen­er­al sec­re­tary and La­dy Vice chair­man which were con­test­ed at the 2022 in­ter­nal elec­tion, are for four years. They will be up in 2026.

The post of vice chair­man is al­so for four years but is now va­cant and will be con­test­ed.

In the PNM’s 2022 Na­tex poll, Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Nyan Gads­by Dol­ly was elect­ed vice chair­man. But in Jan­u­ary, Row­ley ap­point­ed Gads­by-Dol­ly as one of PNM’s four deputy lead­ers.

The posts up for con­test and their cur­rent hold­ers are:

As­sis­tant Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary- Pa­tri­cia Alex­is.

Trea­sur­er- Kaz­im Ho­sein.

Ed­u­ca­tion Of­fi­cer - Lau­rel Leza­ma-Lee Sing.

Pub­lic Re­la­tions Of­fi­cer - Faris Al-Rawi

So­cial Me­dia Of­fi­cer - Kwasi Robin­son.

Labour Re­la­tions Of­fi­cer - Jen­nifer Bap­tiste-Primus

Elec­tions Of­fi­cer - In­dar Paras­ram.

Field Of­fi­cer - Ter­rence Beepath.

Wel­fare Of­fi­cer - Max­ine Richards.

Youth Of­fi­cer- Je­niece Scott.

Op­er­a­tions Of­fi­cer - Irene Hinds.

Al Rawi (who was elect­ed un­op­posed), Leza­ma-Lee Sing, Bap­tiste-Primus and Paras­ram didn’t re­ply to queries or calls yes­ter­day.

Richards said, “Yes, I would most like­ly be con­test­ing the po­si­tion of Wel­fare Of­fi­cer. I think over the past two years I have had sev­er­al suc­cess­ful wel­fare ini­tia­tives where my team of wel­fare of­fi­cers and I were able to as­sist thou­sands of mem­bers and their fam­i­lies,”

Hinds who has been Op­er­a­tions of­fi­cer since 2011, said she will con­test the post again.

Alex­is said, “I’m ready to serve the PNM in what­ev­er ca­pac­i­ty I’m called up­on, I’m fo­cused on be­ing the best as­sis­tant gen­er­al sec­re­tary I can be At this ear­ly time so soon af­ter the an­nounce­ment of the elec­tions, I’m un­de­cid­ed as yet,”

Beepath added, “I’m still de­cid­ing. Over the next cou­ple days, I’ll see...”

Ho­sein, Scott and Robin­son each said they al­so had not made any de­ci­sion yet on whether they would con­test.

For­mer as­sis­tant gen­er­al sec­re­tary for 12 years, Daniel Dook­ie who un­suc­cess­ful­ly con­test­ed the post in 2022, said he had not de­cid­ed if he would con­test any post ahead. Sev­er­al oth­ers who had ex­pressed in­ter­est in the 2022 ex­ec­u­tive polls were mum on par­tic­i­pat­ing ahead. (G.A.)