Manning says he had no role in vote challenge

Senior Reporter

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San Fernando East MP Brian Manning has maintained that he was not involved in legal action brought by a constituent seeking permission to participate in the constituency’s Women’s League executive elections on Saturday.

In a telephone interview, Manning acknowledged social media posts that incorrectly suggested he was behind the litigation pursued by 81-year-old Bernadette Shirley Blenman, of Ste Madeleine.

“I don’t know how I got involved here. A constituent wanted to vote. She has been voting for forty-something years,” Manning said.

Hours before the election at the Vistabella Regional Complex on Saturday night, Blenman, through her attorneys Matthew Gayle and Richard Rojas of New City Chambers, applied for an injunction to allow her to participate or to stop the election until her substantive case over her eligibility to vote was determined.

At the hearing before Justice Christopher Sieuchand, the party—represented by deputy political leader Sanjiv Boodhu and attorney Sasha Paula Singh—said Blenman had never been barred from participating, as she had claimed.

Based on the party’s position, Justice Sieuchand ruled that an injunction was no longer necessary because Blenman did not require the relief she had sought.

Guardian Media contacted party officials for the election results but had not received a response by late yesterday.

Manning declined to comment on the outcome but said several party stalwarts had not been allowed to vote because they did not belong to party groups.

“Joan Yuille-Williams of San Fernando East was unable to vote because she was not a member of a party group. I want you to think about that for a second,” he said.

In her court filings, Blenman, a party member since the 1960s, said a party group she founded had stopped being recognised by the party several weeks ago. She said she and other members of the former group were advised to join another party group but were unable to do so.

Blenman said the election had been called following a public dispute between Manning and constituency chairperson Patricia Alexis, which led to the resignation of the entire constituency executive.

She said the notice issued by the party’s secretariat for the constituency Women’s League annual general meeting earlier this month stated that only members of party groups who were in good financial standing could participate.

“In my years with the constituency and the party, there has never been a uniform approach to implementing the rule that one must be a member of a party group. The rule has always been applied in an ad-hoc manner. I am cognisant of the effect of the rule because I am now the victim of it,” Blenman said in her court filings.

She said she filed the claim because the requirement prevented several other female members, including those from her former party group, from participating. She also said Manning had made representations on their behalf, but to no avail.

“I will add that it is my fervent belief that should this election continue without the financial female members of the party and constituency being allowed to vote, this will leave an indelible stain on the Party,” she said.

The court filings included an affidavit from former PNM general secretary and long-time party member Ashton Ford, who supported Blenman’s claim that the party-group membership requirement was unlawful.

“This is a flagrant abuse of power and/or discretion by the General Council,” Ford said.

Blenman’s substantive case challenging the legality of the party-group requirement has been deemed urgent and transferred to another judge for case management.