ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – 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.
“At this point, my strong gut feeling is that once that vacancy exists in the party, I will offer myself,” said Pierre, the parliamentary representative for the St Andrew South East constituency.
NNP and Opposition Leader Dr. Keith Mitchell said last September that the party would not be moved into calling a long-overdue convention “because some people’s 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 occur 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 a caucus, the longest period since the NNP has held either a convention or a general council.
“It seems like some people’s concentration is a convention, convention, convention,” Mitchell said, adding, “You have to organize your party before you go to a convention.
“The convention is the final event, especially when discussing changing the guards, and that’s possible. So, the organization must be in place, and the party’s executive, the party leadership, make those decisions.
“I get the impression that some people feel one of us or two of us in the party is 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 party’s leadership at the next convention.
Pierre, speaking on a television program here, said Mitchell wishes the party to continue 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 announce that she will openly contest the political leader position.
The first was Peter David, the former foreign affairs minister who is currently the Assistant General Secretary and the parliamentary representative for the Town of St George constituency.
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