Trinidad's Congress of the People Party to elect new leader

Prakash Ramadhar steps down as leader

The Congress of the People (COP) party said that it will elect a new leader on April 24 to replace former legal affairs minister Prakash Ramadhar, who announced his decision to step down last week.

At a meeting of the National Council on Sunday, Ramadar vowed to remain in the party and would continue to work with the new leader.

St Augustine MP Prakash Ramadhar said yesterday he decided to resign as political leader of the Congress of the People (COP) because he did not have the support of many of the COP members.

He said as the party heads for the local government elections (due by October), he did not want the COP to be “distracted by a division about who for Ramadhar and who against Ramadhar”.

“I wanted the very best for my party and the decision to relinquish leadership at this point, gives the party the best opportunity to get the new leader. I am not leaving my party. I will work with it and with the new leader,” Ramadhar told reporters.

Apart from electing a new leader on April 24, the membership will also be electing the national executive officers. The COP was a member of the four-party People’s Partnership government that came to office in 2010, but lost the September 7 general elections last year to the People’s National Movement (PNM).

Mr. Prakash Ramadhar was re-elected to the House of Representatives on September 7, 2015, as a member of the 11th Republican Parliament.

Mr. Ramadhar was first elected on Monday May 24, 2010, as the Member for St. Augustine in the 10th Republican Parliament. He was appointed Minister of Legal Affairs shortly thereafter, as is an attorney-at-law.

The Congress of the People (COP) is a political party in Trinidad and Tobago and is a member of the People's Partnership coalition.