PM Keith Rowley to resign: Who will lead Trinidad and Tobago next?

Trinidad and Tobago: Prime Minister Keith Rowley has announced his resignation ahead of the upcoming elections, scheduled for August. He shared that he will leave the office before the end of the legal limits of this ruling term and will go off to his family.  

PM Rowley who has served Trinidad and Tobago for 45 years, said that he will not be offering him again to represent anyone either in Tobago or in Trinidad. “Forty-Five years is a long time,” he said.   

“I would like to say thank you at this time, appropriately along the way to all those who have supported my efforts and to have benefitted from, I hope I have positively impacted this country somewhere, sometime,” PM Rowley noted.  

His announcement that he will be stepping down from his position and leaving politics has shaken everyone across the twin island federation. This is also to be noted that time and again there have been speculations going on related to the PM’s resignation due to his age factor.  

During the 2020 elections victory speech, PM Rowley hinted about his resigning from politics as he said that ‘he will not be doing that again’. Since then, netizens are guessing the Prime Minister’s resignation, however, his statement during the budget debate further intensified these speculations and left everyone wondering about the Party’s future.  

Who will lead PNP after PM Keith Rowley? 

As per the followed rules, the President will have to appoint a new Prime Minister, after PM Rowley, leaves the chair before his term ends.

While many speculate that Minister of Energy, Stuart Young to be the successor of PM Keith Rowley, this is to be noted that there are many other contenders who could take over Rowley’s chair. The current Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs, Amery Browne, is one of the strong candidates who could take over PM Rowley’s chair.  

The nominations for the party’s representative will begin in the coming months for the district as the 2025 election campaigns are set to begin.  

PM Rowley recalls his journey in Politics 

The Prime Minister, while confirming his resignation and remembering his journey over the years, said that he brought many young minds into the political arena. He emphasized over them and said that many of them are about to complete their second term.  

“Many of them are still in government, about to complete their second term, experienced, some of them with nine or ten years. So, the government and people of Trinidad and Tobago have a cadre of people, mainly young, who came into public service with all its warts and have prepared themselves to take this country forward,” he wrote.  

He also reflected to his journey during COVID and expressed his gratitude to the people of Trinidad and Tobago, who supported him and his decisions during his tenure in the parliament.