For­eign Af­fairs Min­is­ter Win­ston Dook­er­an shook off queries on whether he would ac­cept the Con­gress of the Peo­ple's (COP) nom­i­na­tion for the pres­i­den­cy, say­ing it would not be prop­er to com­ment.

He was asked by the T&T Guardian about his po­si­tion on Wednes­day af­ter COP said last week the par­ty want­ed to nom­i­nate him.

The elec­toral col­lege meets on Feb­ru­ary 15 to elect a Pres­i­dent. In­cum­bent George Maxwell Richards' term ends in March. Nom­i­na­tion day is Feb­ru­ary 5.

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar re­cent­ly asked for sug­ges­tions from Cab­i­net mem­bers. Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Min­is­ter Ja­mal Mo­hammed said a de­ci­sion would be made just be­fore nom­i­na­tion day.

Dook­er­an was asked his po­si­tion on the COP's rec­om­men­da­tion when he en­tered the Par­lia­ment cham­ber for Wednes­day's sit­ting.

"It would not be prop­er to com­ment on that," Dook­er­an said.

COP PRO Ken­ny Jagdeosingh told the T&T Guardian the par­ty's na­tion­al ex­ec­u­tive meet­ing on Tues­day night did de­cide on who would speak with Dook­er­an on the is­sue or when. He not­ed that the To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly elec­tion, which the PP is mon­i­tor­ing on TOP's be­half, was on Mon­day and had been en­gag­ing the par­ty's at­ten­tion.

Among oth­er names be­ing tout­ed for the post of Pres­i­dent are Speak­er Wade Mark, at­tor­neys Karl Hud­son-Phillips, QC, and Robin Mon­tano, sev­er­al judges and oth­ers, in­clud­ing high-pro­file for­mer pub­lic ser­vants.