Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress can­di­dates Ernesto Ke­sar and Clyde El­der have re­signed from the Move­ment of So­cial Jus­tice (MSJ).

MSJ leader David Ab­du­lah re­vealed this dur­ing a vir­tu­al press con­fer­ence yes­ter­day. He said it was in keep­ing with the MSJ’s con­sti­tu­tion as the two could not re­main with the MSJ while be­ing screened by an­oth­er po­lit­i­cal par­ty.

It was an­nounced on Wednes­day that Ke­sar would be con­test­ing the Point Fortin seat while El­der would be con­test­ing the La Brea seat, both Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment strong­holds, on a UNC tick­et in the up­com­ing gen­er­al elec­tion.

Two days be­fore the an­nounce­ment, Ab­du­lah said the MSJ’s Ex­ec­u­tive and Ac­tive Coun­cil met to dis­cuss this de­vel­op­ment be­cause Ke­sar was an ex­ec­u­tive mem­ber and El­der was a mem­ber of the par­ty.

He said de­ci­sions had to be made to en­sure that there was trans­paren­cy, that the MSJ’s in­tegri­ty and its con­sti­tu­tion were up­held and that there was no con­flict in the ac­tiv­i­ties of their mem­bers who are al­so mem­bers of trade unions.

“We there­fore unan­i­mous­ly agreed that in the cir­cum­stances, the res­ig­na­tionof Broth­er Ke­sar as a mem­ber of the MSJ and as an ex­ec­u­tive of­fi­cer would have to be ac­cept­ed as giv­en our con­sti­tu­tion he won’t be able to be a can­di­date

for an­oth­er par­ty and al­so hold those po­si­tions in the MSJ,” Ab­du­lah said. He added his im­por­tant con­tri­bu­tions to the MSJ were recog­nised and ap­pre­ci­at­ed. Ab­du­lah said they al­so ac­cept­ed El­der’s res­ig­na­tion.

He ex­plained that the MSJ and Ac­tivist Coun­cil mem­bers, who are al­so mem­bers and of­fi­cers of trade unions, are free to cam­paign for Ke­sar and El­der but not as rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the MSJ.

Recog­nis­ing their vast ex­pe­ri­ence and con­tri­bu­tion to the work­ing class and trade, he said Ke­sar and El­der stood for so­cial jus­tice and would be ex­cel­lent rep­re­sen­ta­tives for the con­stituen­cies of Point Fortin and La Brea.

He re­called that Ke­sar was the MSJ’s can­di­date for Point Fortin in the 2020 elec­tion.

Ab­du­lah al­so urged mem­bers of the work­ing class not to al­low pol­i­tics to di­vide them.

“When this hap­pens the on­ly re­al win­ner is the class of elites who con­trol eco­nom­ic pow­er. The MSJ there­fore urges that trade union uni­ty not be bro­ken or shat­tered as a con­se­quence of the up­com­ing elec­tions.”

When con­tact­ed by Guardian Me­dia, Ke­sar dis­pelled any per­cep­tion that he was kicked out of the MSJ for of­fer­ing him­self as a UNC can­di­date. He said his res­ig­na­tion was in­line with the MSJ’s con­sti­tu­tion, which he helped to draft.

“We are not at odds. I was not kicked out or forced out so let us be clear. “There is no hard feel­ings or ill feel­ings or any­thing at all.”

El­der al­so said his res­ig­na­tion was not forced.

“Ac­cord­ing to the con­sti­tu­tion we had to re­sign be­cause we did present our­selves for screen­ing for an­oth­er par­ty, so we re­signed from the MSJ and that was our choice to re­sign. We are still very good with every­body in the MSJ. I think the MSJ un­der­stands the need for us to en­gage in and that is to be part of the UNC and con­test the Point Fortin and La Brea seats.”