A new President of TT is to be elected in January as the five-year term of President Paula-Mae Weekes comes to an end.
In a notice in the TT Gazette dated December 23, Speaker of the House of Representatives and chairman of the Electoral College, Bridgid Annisette-George said the Electoral College will convene on January 23, 2023, when a new President of TT will be elected.
“A person shall not be a candidate for election as President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago unless nominated for election by a nomination paper which (a) is signed by the candidate and by 12 or more Members of the House of Representatives; and (b) is delivered to the Speaker at least seven days before the election.”
Weekes, a retired Justice of Appeal in TT and The Turks and Caicos Islands, took office on 19 March, 2018 after being elected on January 19 of that year. As she was the only candidate nominated, she was deemed elected without the need for a vote and made history by becoming the first female President of TT.
She is the country’s sixth President after Ellis Emmanuel Innocent Clarke (September 24, 1976 – March 19, 1987), Noor Mohamed Hassanali (March 20, 1987 – March 17, 1997), Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson (March 18, 1997 – March 16, 2003), George Maxwell Richards (March 17, 2003 – March 18, 2013) and Justice Anthony Thomas Aquinas Carmona (March 19, 2013 – March 18, 2018).
Carmona and Robinson (deceased) served one term as President while Clarke (deceased), Hassanali (deceased) and Richards served two.
The President’s Office declined to make an official statement but suggested Weekes never intended to serve a second term.
Political analyst Dr Bishnu Ragoonath said the people would have to wait and see who the Government or the Opposition would nominate as President, but the selection was really down to who the Dr Keith Rowley administration nominated.
“The election of a President is usually done on the basis of the party which has the majority in the Upper and Lower House. Whoever the Prime Minister selects is who would win the majority because people vote along party lines. The Opposition could always nominate somebody but the chance of that person winning that election is a snowball’s chance in hell.”
He said the Government would probably look for someone who retired from the Judiciary, as had been the tradition, with the hope that person could operate with some degree of independence.
[caption id="attachment_992616" align="alignnone" width="1024"] President Paula-Mae Weekes pins the Joe D'Arcy Award for Gallantry on scout Nikoli Mohammed on during a ceremony at the TT Boy Scouts headquarters in St Ann's on December 15. - File photo[/caption]
Commenting on Weekes term in office, he said people who were aware of the limitations of the position may say she did an “okay” job, while those who were not may believe she fell short.
“The President can only do so much in accordance with the Constitution and people don’t necessarily unders
