People’s National Movement (PNM) Tobago Council former Public Relations Officer and councillor Dr Denise Tsoiafatt-Angus’ filing of nomination papers as an independent candidate for January 25, 2021, Tobago House of Assembly(THA) elections, violates the PNM constitution and she will be expelled.
So said the party’s Island Council chairman Stanford Callender.
“The party’s constitution is clear. Once a member of the party goes up against a candidate of the party selected, that is tantamount to automatic expulsion. The party does not have anything to do with her. Dr Angus would have done it to herself. It is very unfortunate, but that is the situation.”
Speaking with reporters after filing her nomination papers with the Election and Boundaries(EBC) Returning Officer at Glen Road, Dr Tsoaifatt-Angus said she faced a “difficult decision.’
She said as a doctor, she is trained to hear the “cries of the people.”
“...It came down to the choice between party politics and people politics ...and for the people of Scarborough/ Calder Hall to get the service they deserve and have been clamouring for.”
Asked if she was upset the screening committee had bypassed her, she replied: “I am only a human being. I think anyone of you would have been disappointed.”
Questioned on whether she was prepared to face the consequences of her actions, she said she did not know what would happen.
“ I know the PNM is a very forgiving party. They have demonstrated that. (Winston) Gypsy Peters was a part of the UNC. He was a PNM. He ran against the PNM. Moses Thomas, who ran on a PDP (Progressive Democratic Patriots) platform, yet he was reinstalled by this same executive.”
Tsoiafatt-Angus failed to get the party’s screening committee’s nod to represent the Scarborough/Calder Hall seat against the incumbent Marslyn Melville-Jack, for the second consecutive time.
She also did not secure their approval to run for the Bacolet/ Mt. St.George seat in the THA’s 2014 elections. Her supporters staged a noisy protest in 2017. Last year, they plastered leaflets across the district, demanding Melville-Jack vacate the seat.
She is one of four independent candidates in the elections.
The other three are Anthony Hector - Black Rock/Whim/ Spring Garden, Unity of the People -Nickocy Phillips, and Ricardo Philip- Class Action Reform Movement.
Phillip and Phillips are vying for the Buccoo/Mt. Pleasant district.
Twelve candidates from two political parties-PNM and PDP- also filed their nomination papers with the Election and Boundaries Commission’s (EBC) three Returning Officers yesterday.
According to the EBC’s Chief Elections Officer, Fern Narcis-Scope, the candidates are vying for votes from an electorate totalling 51,062.