HAVING first lost its foothold on power and then suffered a dramatic defeat at last year's Tobago House of Assembly (THA) elections, the task ahead for the PNM in Tobago could not be more daunting.
Sunday's internal elections for executive posts on the PNM Tobago Council have drawn an important line under the issue of party leadership going forward.
It is in the country's interest for Tobago to have a strong opposition party capable of holding the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) to account. As long as the question of leadership of the council remained up in the air, the perception lingered of a party in disarray simply responding to the beck and call of others.
Some might say this perception was one of the key causes of the PNM's defeat and that it is now a matter for the new leader, Ancil Dennis, to address.
It is interesting that, for the present moment, both main parties on the island feature a duality of voices in terms of leadership. The PDP's political leader is Watson Duke, but it is Farley Augustine who is the Chief Secretary.
Similarly, Mr Dennis is now the political leader of the PNM Tobago Council, but Kelvin Morris holds the post of Minority Leader, being the sole PNM member to win a seat in December's 14-one result.
(Of course, it is open to the party to make Mr Dennis a THA councillor, though there is the legal view that only an assemblyman can be designated Minority Leader.)
The absence of former PNM Tobago Council political leader Tracy Davidson-Celestine from the new executive is telling. Mr Dennis now takes over Ms Davidson-Celestine's job, and the continuing perception - whether justified or not - of a degree of disconnect between the two will only be enforced by Ms Davidson-Celestine's departure.
But Tobago can only stand to benefit from a political environment in which parties not only disagree with one another but also among themselves.
Too often, Westminster-style conventions such as those relating to Cabinet responsibility have served to impose an iron curtain of silence over decision-making and to make the notion of dissent anathema to strong leadership.
Yet, as the Tobago electorate reminded the powers that be twice last year, leadership is not simply a matter of imposing a unilateral will and riding roughshod over the sentiments of others. It must involve listening to diverse views and taking considered action, guided by legal and ethical principles.
Though now in opposition in Tobago, the PNM has an opportunity to change the perception that it is a party wedded to the idea of the maximum leader.
That could be an important first step in winning back the support it has lost. And it could have national reverberations.
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