The Movement for Social Justice's (MSJ) relationship with the People's Partnership coalition was a marriage of convenience that could never last, People's National Movement (PNM) general secretary Ashton Ford has said.

"This was expected because the Partnership was rooted in convenience, with no real purpose or plan for the county, so it was only a matter of time," Ford told the Express via telephone last evening.

MSJ political leader and Government senator David Abdulah said yesterday the party was withdrawing from the People's Partnership Governmment coalition.

He also tendered his resignation from his senatorial post to Prime Minster Kamla Persad-Bissessar, political leader of the Partnership's largest party, the United National Congress.

Other members of the coalition are the Congress of the People, the Tobago Organisation of the People and the National Joint Action Committee.

Former prime minister and founder of the UNC Basdeo Panday also spoke to the Express via telephone last evening, saying he thought the MSJ had recognised a political vacuum in society, where people were fed up of the PNM and the Partnership, and it believed it can fill that void.

Panday said what surprised him most was that Abdulah had resigned.

"I think what is bothering the MSJ, as indeed the same thing is bothering the COP, is that they are being perceived as being part of the corruption, waste and mismanagement of the Partnership as a government.

"I think they are trying to extricate themselves from that because it will affect their future political ambitions," said Panday.

However, while he said he did not believe the Partnership will be affected from a governing standpoint because they have enough members, the Government's credibility was now severely affected.