Keep it clean!
That’s the warning from People’s National Movement elections supervisory team head Murchison Browne to all combatants in the party’s upcoming internal election
This following concerns from some challengers about the Rowley Red team chairmanship contestant Colm Imbert’s “zandolee” reference to challengers at Thursday night’s Red team meeting.
The Rowley Red team comprises PNM leader Dr Keith Rowley’s slate.
At the Red team’s Tuesday meeting in Tunapuna, both Imbert and Rowley took blistering aim at former minister Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, who is vying for the chairmanship against Imbert. Abdul-Hamid has declined comment on attacks.
At Thursday’s Red team meeting in La Horquetta, Imbert again spoke scathingly of challengers, saying some were in the trenches “fighting” for years and but some “zandolees” were now “coming out of their hole.”
Imbert, who said “they were boldfaced,” related how he rejected candidate Linus Rogers’approach for support for the position of election officer. Rogers isn’t on Rowley’s slate.
Rogers didn’t reply yesterday, but Independent candidate businessman Dane Wilson (who’s contesting the PRO’s post against Rowley team member Laurel Lezama-Lee Sing) said he heard Imbert’s “zandolee” remark.
“However, I know that when we all signed nomination forms we agreed we’d not use abusive language and there’d be no name-calling.”
Browne frowned on the name-calling, saying, “I want to emphasise when candidates signed nominations they signed on to a code of conduct. If there’s a complaint on the matter, our team will probe it but for now, I call on people to remember the code of conduct and to abide by it scrupulously please.”
Imbert didn’t respond to an emailed query about his remark.
The Red team’s revelation of a symbol for their slate—announced Thursday—also caught some challengers by surprise since they said there’d been no mention of symbols to them.
Other challengers also have concerns about ballots for the election, but Browne said the ballots are the same and his team has no problem with this. Nor, he said, did he receive any formal complaint about some challengers’ meetings with certain South party groups being blocked (as some claimed Tuesday.)
While Rowley Red team members are confident, challengers said feedback has been positive for them and they had noted common concerns from some members about the way things are handled in the PNM, information dissemination and informing members of opportunities/jobs.
Special voting for the elections is tomorrow between 8 am and 6 pm. This is for people who will be away for the election, or life members, or who will be working that day. Special voting is at PNM’s Balisier House office and PNM’s Tobago Council office. Browne said almost 200 special voter forms were issued Monday.