The United National Congress (UNC) is set to resume its screening exercise on Friday, as well as disclose the candidates who have been previously examined.
However, when contacted by Guardian Media yesterday, a senior party official was unable to confirm which seats will be screened.
Among the anticipated announcements is the candidate for the St Augustine constituency, currently represented by Khadijah Ameen.
On December 12, the UNC screened candidates for the seats of Arima, Trincity/Maloney, D’Abadie/O’Meara, Arouca/Lopinot, and St Augustine. The party has since only named the candidates for Arouca/Lopinot and Trincity/Maloney.
There has been speculation that former MPs Prakash Ramadhar and Vasant Bharath could be making a return, as party officials remained tight-lipped about whether Ameen was unopposed when screened. However, Ramadhar told Guardian media he had not been approached and was focused on rebuilding the CoP.
“I’m in the process of resetting my party, and we will discuss the issue of seat and allocation when I think the CoP is standing on its own strength. When we have credible strength, then we shall discuss negotiations with our colleagues,” he said.
A party can invite further nominations if it is seen as necessary. Meanwhile, Bharath, who publicly signalled his interest in returning to representative politics, said if called upon, he was ready to serve.
He said, “As you know, the UNC’s nomination process is closed off, and it has been a long time since those nominations have been closed off, so it is only if the national executives determines they would like to reopen nominations in any of the constituencies, only then it will be applicable to offer myself.”
When contacted, incumbent MP Ameen said that a delay in declaring a seat was not an anomaly.
“There is nothing unusual, there are other seats screened on the same day that have not been declared, so there is nothing unusual,” she said.