00:00At the end of the day, we had a straw poll among the caucus and Minister Young came out with the majority.
00:08It doesn't involve a three quarters majority or half a majority.
00:13My idea of Slim and you is not the same.
00:16How many football matches have been won by 1-0?
00:18Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley did not reveal exactly how close the vote among the caucus of the government MPs was
00:26between Energy Minister Stuart Young and Planning Minister Penelope Beckles Robinson to be the interim Prime Minister
00:32after Dr Rowley resigns the office at some point later this year.
00:36I said before, since I am leaving, I try to arrange that I don't be the one who is announcing the election date.
00:45So I expect that that will work out so when I leave, those who are left behind will do that.
00:50The Prime Minister said the PNM, of which he is the political leader, is due to hold a convention in September of this year.
00:57Do you intend to resign from the political leader post?
00:59We will cross those bridges when we come to them.
01:03If the election is called tomorrow, I'll still be the political leader.
01:06If it's called later on, I might not be the political leader.
01:11So you're staying on until September as political leader?
01:14I am not saying that. The option is there to do that, but I'm not saying I'm doing that.
01:19Those are questions still to be answered.
01:21There has been widespread speculation about who would lead the party in the next general election.
01:26And I'm comfortable that coming out and leaving a group of people in government and in the party
01:33who could have done what they did here today, which is to settle whatever differences we may have
01:39in terms of who had ambition to do what, to know that it's important here for all of us to rally around a candidate of our choice
01:48so that the president could pick somebody in our caucus, and we continue in a seamless way
01:54to provide the country with stable, honest, competent government.
02:00Section 76.1 of the Constitution states,
02:03Where there is occasion for the appointment of a Prime Minister, the President shall appoint as Prime Minister
02:09a member of the House of Representatives who is the leader in that House of the Party,
02:15which commands the support of the majority of members of that House.
02:19So when will Minister Young be appointed Prime Minister before the next general election?
02:24Due later this year?
02:26There are a couple of things that I am still committed to doing before I come out of office.
02:30One of which is to attend the CARICOM meeting in Barbados.
02:37That is on the 19th of February.
02:41And sometime after that, I would indicate the actual date when I leave.
02:48But I'm busy on some matters that I'm wrapping up.
02:51The Prime Minister said that he does not want to walk away from the job
02:55and leave things he could do easily for someone else to do with more difficulty.
03:00Jule Brown, TV6 News.
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