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  • 8 months ago
PNM Tobago Council Political Leader Ancil Dennis would be stepping down soon.

The announcement was made by him on Monday night during his concession speech, that followed the Tobago People's Party winning all fifteen seats in the Tobago House of Assembly.

Elizabeth Williams has been on the ground in Tobago and has this report.
Transcript
00:00I intend to support a transition to new leadership within the Tobago Council of the People's National Movement.
00:07I will be 29 on Wednesday and I will be calling it a day or perhaps a week in politics.
00:21Mr. Dennis said while there have been pockets of dissatisfaction on the ground, it did not redound in favor of the PNM.
00:30Do you think you not stepping down or stepping aside as leader of the PNM-Tobago Council would have contributed to today's defeat?
00:39Perhaps, I don't know.
00:44In 2021, we lost an election like tonight, right?
00:49I was 14-1 and I decided to take on the responsibility of leading the party at that time.
01:02Could I have stepped down?
01:04Perhaps I could have, but I don't think it would have been in the best interest of the party to step down during that four-year period.
01:13Mr. Dennis said the PNM ran a good campaign, an analysis is to be done, and while April is set for internal elections of the party, this election might come sooner.
01:26Offering the people of Tobago something different, something bold, something new, to put Tobago first again.
01:35It was not meant to be, obviously, and as I said before, that is democracy at work.
01:41He scuffed at talk that the PNM is a dead party.
01:46The PNM will never die.
01:47You see, anybody who says that does not understand the history of the politics and the history of the PNM.
01:55From 1980 to 2001, more times than not, in fact, all the time, I think we had just one seat in the Tobago House of Assembly.
02:09We rose to taking responsibility for the Tobago House of Assembly for 21 years.
02:16To those who still support the PNM...
02:19Do not lose hope in the PNM and do not lose hope in Tobago, right?
02:26The elections are over, and we must continue to do the work to build our party and to build this island.
02:37And I want to say that there is a lot of work for the members of this party to continue to do,
02:43and there is a lot of work for the next leader to do so that, hopefully, in the next four years,
02:50we will be able to attract the kind of support from the people of Tobago
02:56to make a difference in the next Tobago House of Assembly elections.
03:00Elizabeth Williams, TV6 News.
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