Eliz­a­beth Gon­za­les

The PNM To­ba­go Coun­cil has launched a se­ries of com­mu­ni­ty meet­ings across the is­land as part of its ef­fort to re­build the par­ty fol­low­ing its loss in the April 28 Gen­er­al Elec­tion.

The par­ty re­leased its full out­reach sched­ule, start­ing to­day in the Buc­coo/Mt Pleas­ant dis­trict and end­ing on Thurs­day, May 29, in Ma­son Hall/Mo­ri­ah. Meet­ings will be held in every elec­toral dis­trict, and all ses­sions will be­gin at 6:30 p.m.

The lead­er­ship says the goal is to lis­ten to the peo­ple, eval­u­ate the elec­tion re­sults, and chart the way for­ward to­geth­er.

This move comes af­ter the PNM lost both To­ba­go seats to the new­ly formed To­ba­go Peo­ple’s Par­ty (TPP), mark­ing a ma­jor shift in To­ba­go’s po­lit­i­cal land­scape.

Po­lit­i­cal Leader of the PNM To­ba­go Coun­cil, An­cil Den­nis, said he will not step down and will con­tin­ue to build the par­ty, de­spite oth­er top of­fi­cials re­sign­ing af­ter the de­feat. For­mer Prime Min­is­ter Stu­art Young stepped down as par­ty chair­man, among oth­er res­ig­na­tions.

Den­nis said, “There will be no res­ig­na­tion from me. While I am on the na­tion­al ex­ec­u­tive as a deputy po­lit­i­cal leader, I am there by virtue of be­ing the elect­ed Po­lit­i­cal Leader of the PNM in To­ba­go.”

An­a­lysts be­lieve the par­ty’s loss was due to pub­lic dis­sat­is­fac­tion and a gen­er­al feel­ing that the PNM had lost touch with the peo­ple.

The To­ba­go Coun­cil now hopes this is­land-wide out­reach will help re­build trust and re­con­nect with vot­ers.

The par­ty says it wants hon­est feed­back and is call­ing on all mem­bers and sup­port­ers to at­tend and share their views on the way for­wa