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THE country will know by Monday sometime after 5 p.m. whether Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles will become the political leader of the PNM, or whether she will face competition for the post at the internal elections on June 22.

As of yesterday, Beckles was the only person who has publicly stated that she will contest the position of political leader. If she is nominated unopposed, she will be leader.

Dr Keith Rowley was unopposed when he was first elected in 2011, but had competition in 2014 from Beckles, in 2018, from Mustapha Abdul Hamid and in 2022, from Karen Nunez-Tesheira. Patrick Manning had competition when he was first elected in 1987 (from Aeneas Wills) but was subsequently elected unopposed, until 1996 when Rowley contested the position and lost. Manning faced no competition after that and resigned in 2010.