PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Congress of the People (COP) party, the second biggest partner in the four-party coalition People’s Partnership government says it is backing Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran for the post of President of Trinidad and Tobago.

Parliament will meet on February 15 to elect a successor to President George Maxwell Richards, who leaves after two five-year terms, and COP leader Prakash Ramadhar said while Dookeran, a former Central Bank governor, has not yet been approached, he would be the party’s nominee if he accepted their nomination.

"Dookeran personifies in the mind of many, the sort of person the country needs now more than ever," Ramadhar said of Dookeran, who lead the COP into the last general election in 2010. He said there has never been a question mark regarding Dookeran's integrity, honesty or honour.

If Dookeran is nominated and elected as head of state, he will become the second active politician following former prime minister ANR Robinson, the country’s third head of state who demitted who served from 1997 to 2003.