Lopsided Victory

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, May 19, CMC – Keith Rowley, as expected won a lopsided historic “one man one vote” internal election of the main opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) as the party gears itself for a possible return to power in Trinidad and Tobago following its heavy defeat in 2010.

Rowley, who had been appointed political leader after the PNM was whipped 29-12 in the May 24, 2010 general election, had called the new internal poll, revamping the old system of the leader being elected by party delegates, introducing instead the one-man, one-vote system.

Preliminary results showed at that least 30 per cent of the 81,000 party members eligible to cast ballots had done so during Sunday’s islandwide polling with Rowley receiving the majority of the votes.
PNM elections commission vice chairman Murchison Browne said Rowley was leading in 11 constituencies and had 95 per cent of the votes cast.

His challenger, Pennelope Beckles-Robinson conceded defeat, telling reporters “I congratulate him” noting that the votes cast so far “suggest a victory for Rowley.
But she said that the party was not prepared for the new voting system.

“We simply were not ready for this one man, one vote, it is a task of being ready for 81,000 members,” she said.