The public relations officer of the main opposition New National Party (NNP), Emmalin Pierre, says she intends to contest the leadership of the party whenever the elections are called.
“For me personally at this point my strong gut feeling is that once that vacancy exists in the party, I will offer myself,” said Pierre, who is also the parliamentary representative for the St Andrew South East constituency.
NNP and Opposition Leader, Dr Keith Mitchell said last September that the party will not be moved into calling a long overdue convention “because some people’s personal interest is behind a convention”.
He has been the NNP leader since 1989.
Mitchell, who led the party into defeat in the June 2022 general election, said the convention would only take place when the party is satisfied that it is ready for the political event.
Last September marked 21 months since any constitutionally mandated organ of the party, except the executive has held any caucus and is the longest period since the NNP has either held a convention or a general council.
“It seems like some people’s concentration is convention, convention, convention,” Mitchell said, adding “you have to organise your party before you go to a convention.
“The convention is the final event especially when you are talking about changing of the guards and that’s possible, so the organisation must be in place and the executive of the party, the leadership of the party makes those decisions.
“I get the impression that some people feel is one of us or two of us in the party making a decision,” said the 76-year-old Mitchell, who served as prime minister from 1995 to 2008 and from 2013 to 2022, and had promised to give up the leadership of the party at the next convention.
Pierre, speaking on a television programme, said it is the wish of Mitchell that the party continues to exist when he is no longer involved in politics.
“He always refers to the Grenada United Labour Party and often says that he does not want to leave this party and looking back (and) feels that it has fallen apart because he has exited the leadership position,” she said.
Pierre, who served in various ministerial portfolios during the NNP administrations from 2013 to 2022, has become the second executive member to openly announce that she will be contesting the political leader position.
The first was the former foreign affairs minister, Peter David, who is currently the Assistant General Secretary and is the parliamentary representative for town of St George constituency.
