The gen­er­al coun­cil of the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment has ap­proved the se­lec­tion of a new date for the par­ty’s an­nu­al con­ven­tion and in­ter­nal elec­tions. How­ev­er, that date is yet to be re­vealed.

But par­ty of­fi­cials say when the elec­tions are held, it will not see any­one con­test­ing the post of po­lit­i­cal leader since elec­tion for that po­si­tion is not due un­til 2026.

PNM’s Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary, Fos­ter Cum­mings ex­plained dur­ing a news con­fer­ence af­ter the coun­cil met, that the mo­tion was ap­proved ac­cord­ing to the par­ty’s con­sti­tu­tion for a new date to be con­sid­ered.

“Our par­ty’s con­sti­tu­tion gives the po­lit­i­cal leader the au­thor­i­ty in re­spect of the po­lit­i­cal di­rec­tion of the par­ty and the lead­er­ship in sup­port of that re­quire­ment. The gen­er­al coun­cil to­day rat­i­fied the de­ci­sion by the par­ty’s lead­er­ship to set a new date for the par­ty’s con­ven­tion.”

While a new date for the par­ty’s in­ter­nal elec­tion is yet to be an­nounced, par­ty Chair­man Stu­art Young was asked what led to its sud­den can­cel­la­tion which sparked spec­u­la­tions of an ear­ly gen­er­al elec­tion.

“The Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment is a move­ment that is a very strate­gic move­ment, it is a move­ment that does not do things be­cause you wake up in the morn­ing and you just take a de­ci­sion. So on this oc­ca­sion the gen­er­al coun­cil has saw it fit to trust the lead­er­ship de­ci­sion that was tak­en and we just put it like that for now.

“So I’m not in a po­si­tion nor am I ever go­ing to give out the PNM’s strat­e­gy and why we are do­ing things,” he said.

Spec­u­la­tion has been rife about the fu­ture of the par­ty’s lead­er­ship fol­low­ing Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley’s hint of re­tire­ment. Dur­ing the bud­get de­bate in Par­lia­ment, Row­ley sug­gest­ed that he could be bow­ing out of pol­i­tics.

“It was a plea­sure work­ing with you as par­lia­men­tary Speak­er. I don’t know how much longer I would have in this Par­lia­ment. But I have done my du­ty, and I kept the course. I have run the race, and I look for­ward not for a pot of gold but for my fam­i­ly at the end of this rain­bow,” he said dur­ing the de­bate on Oc­to­ber 10.

But Young ex­plained that the po­si­tion of po­lit­i­cal leader is not among those up for grabs in the par­ty’s in­ter­nal elec­tions.

“The in­ter­nal elec­tions, there seems to be some con­fu­sion over it in­clud­ing by per­sons who are mem­bers of the par­ty. There were po­si­tions that were not due for re-elec­tion and are due for elec­tion in 2026, the po­lit­i­cal leader, the chair­man and the gen­er­al sec­re­tary. There was an open­ing for the vice chair and all of the rest, in ac­cor­dance to our con­sti­tu­tion, would have ex­pired. But our con­sti­tu­tion pro­vides for how we deal with that,” Young ex­plained.

Dur­ing the news con­fer­ence, it was al­so an­nounced that nom­i­na­tions for 15 ad­di­tion­al con­stituen­cies ahead of the gen­er­al elec­tion will com­mence from to­mor­row, Mon­day.