Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Fitzger­ald Hinds, one of the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment’s (PNM) longest-serv­ing mem­bers, was no­tice­ably ab­sent from the par­ty’s pre­sen­ta­tion of all 41 can­di­dates yes­ter­day at Wood­ford Square in Port-of-Spain. The event was al­so a farewell to out­go­ing Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley as he de­liv­ered his fi­nal ad­dress as Prime Min­is­ter.

While Hinds an­nounced last No­vem­ber that he would no longer be of­fer­ing him­self for rep­re­sen­ta­tive pol­i­tics af­ter 30 years, his ab­sence did not go un­no­ticed as the na­tion braces for a sig­nif­i­cant lead­er­ship tran­si­tion with Stu­art Young set to be sworn in as Prime Min­is­ter to­day.

Sources close to the par­ty have de­scribed Hinds’ ab­sence as “telling,” par­tic­u­lar­ly amid grow­ing spec­u­la­tion of an im­mi­nent Cab­i­net reshuf­fle un­der Young’s lead­er­ship.

There has been no of­fi­cial word on whether Hinds will re­tain his high-pro­file post. Guardian Me­dia ques­tioned Pub­lic Util­i­ties Min­is­ter Mar­vin Gon­za­les yes­ter­day about Hinds’ ab­sence, which he de­scribed as not be­ing ir­reg­u­lar.

“This is the pre­sen­ta­tion of can­di­dates, Mr Hinds is not a can­di­date in the 2025 elec­tion, there is ab­solute­ly no need for him to be here so there is noth­ing to make out of.”

Guardian Me­dia at­tempt­ed to con­tact Hinds on the mat­ter but ef­forts were un­suc­cess­ful.

—Jesse Ramdeo