THERE is heavy disquiet among People's National Party (PNP) supporters about the role of MPs in the distribution of nomination forms to delegates who will select the next party president, and the influence the strategy will allow them, sources within the party secretariat have revealed.

WEBBER... party secretariat distributes forms directly to groups

But PNP deputy general secretary Maureen Webber, who is managing the registration process, dismissed their unease, saying the system of distribution was designed to counter that.

"The PNP Secretariat controls the distribution of forms and these are distributed to the group chairmen or secretaries from the secretariat, not to the MPs," said Webber.

She noted that "there is always unease" whenever there is an election process, but noted that the party had undergone a dry run at its last annual conference when it registered delegates from an approved list and issued the delegates cards upon registration, rather than before the conference as usually happened.

Retiring president, Prime Minister PJ Patterson, had been expected to name the date for selecting his successor on December 4, but did not.
Since then, a fresh wave of concern about the legitimacy of groups and reports of attempts by certain MPs to sway group support.
It is now expected that the special delegates conference will happen in February.

New rules that eliminated bogus constituency groups, slashed by roughly 60 per cent the number of delegates eligible for the last annual conference.

In recent years, the PNP has had as many as over 4,000 registered delegates at its conferences, but tighter rules instituted by the party last year now make it mandatory that constituencies show that groups have held regular meetings and have democratically-elected executives, a move away from 'paper' groups, whose legitimacy rested on them being in good financial standing.

The groups are now required to hold annual elections, and the results of these elections must be submitted to the party by July 31 each year.
Some of the camps of the contenders for party presidency fear the influence of MPs in determining delegates.

The numerical advantage of MP support is held by Dr Peter Phillips, who goes up against front-runner Portia Simpson Miller, Dr Omar Davies, and Karl Blythe, who is trailing in the opinion polls.
But Webber insisted the process was transparent and held the confidence of "the comrades on the ground".

She said the secretariat had distributed over 60 per cent of the nomination forms, with the outstanding parishes comprising in the main constituencies in eastern and central Westmoreland, western St. Thomas, western St Mary and St Catherine.

Webber was confident that the party would complete the exercise by the end of December, noting that the projected amount of delegates included around 3,500 from party groups, 260 from the party's National Executive Council, 50 from the party affiliated union National Workers Union, and some 100 that were pending.

bellanfanted@jamaicaobserver.com

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