Gail Alexan­der

Se­nior Po­lit­i­cal Re­porter

The PNM has again se­lect­ed Aut­ly Granthume to con­test the Lengua In­di­an Walk seat in the June 17 by-elec­tion for that dis­trict. This was an­nounced by the par­ty yes­ter­day morn­ing, af­ter Thurs­day’s screen­ing process at the PNM’s Bal­isi­er House, Port-of-Spain head of­fice.

Granthume, a rev­erend, pre­vi­ous­ly con­test­ed the seat in the Au­gust 2023 Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment elec­tions, with pre­lim­i­nary re­sults show­ing he won with 1,430 votes to UNC can­di­date Nicole Gopaul’s 1,425 votes.

The UNC chal­lenged those re­sults and af­ter a se­ries of re­counts, ties, the de­c­la­ra­tion of fresh elec­tions by the Elec­tion and Bound­aries Com­mis­sion and a fur­ther chal­lenge of bal­lots, the par­ty lost its bat­tles and fresh elec­tions were de­clared. 

The PNM has al­so cho­sen An­der­son Nanan to con­test the by-elec­tion in Quinan, Morne Di­a­blo, which is be­ing held on the same date.
A by-elec­tion arose there af­ter the death of UNC coun­cil­lor Diptee Ram­nath.

Nanan has been em­ployed at the Pe­nal-Debe cor­po­ra­tion and is said to be well known there. 

The screen­ing was led by PNM chair­man Stu­art Young, with Min­is­ter of Fi­nance Colm Im­bert present as act­ing prime min­is­ter due PM Dr Kei­th Row­ley’s trav­els over­seas.  

The Gov­ern­ment an­nounced the elec­tion date two weeks ago.

Mean­while, the UNC had sev­er­al nom­i­nees in hand, as its dead­line for the by-elec­tion nom­i­na­tions closed yes­ter­day.  

UNC sources said there was more than one nom­i­nee for each of the two seats and screen­ing was ex­pect­ed next week.     

Like Granthume, the UNC’s Gopaul is tipped to be re­turned to con­test that seat, some of­fi­cials hint­ed.

One source said, “Af­ter the LG re­sults, she’s like­ly to be re­turned to for­malise the re­sult with the up­com­ing by-elec­tion, which she’ll win,”

They con­firmed that UNC will launch its by-elec­tion cam­paign on Mon­day at a Siparia meet­ing in the Pe­nal-Debe cor­po­ra­tion area. UNC leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar, who is Siparia MP, will lead speak­ers. It is ex­pect­ed, but not yet con­firmed, that the UNC’s can­di­dates may be an­nounced there.

PNM gen­er­al sec­re­tary Fos­ter Cum­mings did not an­swer calls yes­ter­day.

Lengua In­di­an Walk is in the Princes Town re­gion­al cor­po­ra­tion area, while Quinam Morne Di­a­blo is in the Pe­nal-Debe re­gion­al cor­po­ra­tion area.