For­mer Prime Min­is­ter and PNM Chair­man Stu­art Young has an­nounced he will not be con­test­ing any po­si­tions in the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) in­ter­nal elec­tions. In a state­ment re­leased short­ly be­fore dead­line on nom­i­na­tion day to­day, Young was gra­cious for the sup­port, well wish­es, and ad­vice he has re­ceived in re­cent weeks.

“I have tak­en the time im­me­di­ate­ly af­ter the re­sults of the gen­er­al elec­tion to en­gage in per­son­al re­flec­tion and, im­por­tant­ly, to ob­serve the con­duct of peo­ple, par­tic­u­lar­ly those who seek po­si­tions that car­ry re­spon­si­bil­i­ty,” he said. Af­ter dis­cus­sions with his fam­i­ly and loved ones, Young said it was not in the best in­ter­est of the par­ty for him to seek a post in the new ex­ec­u­tive.

He added: “Be as­sured that I will con­tin­ue to ful­fill my du­ties and re­spon­si­bil­i­ties to my con­stituents, as an elect­ed mem­ber of par­lia­ment, to the coun­try that I love and rep­re­sent, and to my par­ty, the PNM. I will hold the gov­ern­ment to ac­count and will con­tin­ue to fight for what is best for Trinidad and To­ba­go. ‘Time is longer than twine’ and I pray that God con­tin­ues to guide me on my jour­ney.”

Mean­while, eleven years af­ter be­ing over­looked for the po­si­tion of po­lit­i­cal leader, Pen­ne­lope Beck­les is un­op­posed for now, as nom­i­na­tion clos­es at 5pm to­day.

Beck­les said she feels emo­tion­al but ready to lead the par­ty. “It will be a priv­i­lege and ho­n­our,” she said.

Ad­dress­ing crit­i­cism that she has been too qui­et as Op­po­si­tion Leader, Beck­les said she has been lis­ten­ing to the peo­ple. “The Of­fice of the Leader of the Op­po­si­tion has just been hand­ed over to me, so I will be host­ing press con­fer­ences start­ing to­mor­row.”