FROM the moment the voting booths opened at Jamaica College in Kingston yesterday morning, it was evident that the battle for the leadership of the People’s National Party (PNP) was going to be a straight duel between Dr Peter Phillips and Portia Simpson Miller.

The poll results only gave official confirmation to it with Simpson Miller polling over 1,700 votes, to trounce her main rival Dr Peter Phillips, with 1,538.

The huge crowd which descended on the entrance to the high school, which has already produced at least two of the country’s prime ministers, as well as the current leader of the Opposition, was about evenly divided between the two camps, in terms of their T-shirts.

Delegates for the other two candidates – Dr Karl Blythe and Dr Omar Davies – seemed virtually no shows, or wore no T-shirts. Both polled 204 and 283 votes respectively.

Blythe expressed concerns very early about the human and vehicular traffic on the road, as numerous vehicles loaded with Team Portia supporters criss-crossed the entrance.

“When we came in from the country we had the noise on the outside, like the flag raising, with support for one candidate so I was a a little concerned about that. It was my understanding that we were not going to allow that,” Blythe said.

He claimed that his delegates came into the city to vote and returned home to the country immediately.

Davies expressed concerns about the Tshirts and crowds in some areas.

“We don’t like what has happened in the massing areas. It shouldn’t have happened, but we are where we are. You will note that Prosperity is not a part of that. We have raised the level of discipline in the campaign to what it must be.”

Asked about the lack of visibility of his delegates and supporters, Davies responded, “there are many of the persons supporting prosperity who may have been transported in other buses and may have taken a night in a hotel courtesy of other camps. It’s a interesting tale to be told.”

He said that many of his delegates may have travelled by on transportation provided by his competitors and may even had spent the night with them.

The first problem to show up was the slow movement of delegates into the premises, which also slowed the process.

“I would have preferred if the movement in was a little faster, but I guess it will pick up because there is room inside to admit more persons onto the compound before they start being processed,” Senator Whiteman said.

The second problem was the issue of Dr. Phillips’ camp being housed across the road from the entrance to the high school. However, PNP general secretary, Burchell Whiteman pointed out that the matter was discussed and agreed by all the parties involved.

“Whether it was absolutely, totally accepted or not, but we came to some understanding about the use of the premises over there (the Chinese Benevolent Society) and, so far, those rules are being observed,” Whiteman insisted. One Team Portia official, however, claimed that Phillips’ camp was supposed to restrict the number of delegates spreading out unto the sidewalks in front of the entrance. Eventually, the Phillips’ camp got most of its supporters to move back into the premises

and leave the sidewalk.

On the other hand, however, many of Team Portia’s supporters parked at St Margaret’s Church, down the road from the JC campus, and walked past the high school and Phillips’ camp to Hope United Church where her camp was situated.

The other major issue concerned the number of persons who were unable to vote because their names were not on the delegate’s list.

One man claimed that when he went to vote as a delegate, but was shown his name on the substitutes’ list and told to come back at one o’clock, but when he returned his name was absent from that list.

The issue was raised with the party’s secretariat by Phillips after he toured the premises.

Said Phillips: “I have had people come to me and complain to me and I am concerned.”

Deputy general secretary Julian Robinson, admitted that they had received complaints, and that 56 names were being investigated at the time.

Robinson said that the secretariat needed to find the original nomination form at the PNP’s headquarters and check it.

“We have no other way of identifying them as legitimate delegates apart from the original delegate’s nomination form,” he said.

“There are about 56 people whose names have not shown up on any list.”

“These are a lot of people and people who expect to vote,” Phillips pointed out.

Robinson said that some names could have been removed after an appeal.

Director of Elections Danville Walker said that the main problem was that of the misspelling of names but, he said, the Electoral Office had instituted a system which ensured that persons with questionable IDs could have an ID card printed with proper identification.

It was obvious that both Team Portia and Phillips’ Solid as a Rock team were well financed. They provided transportation for their delegates and supporters, as well as food and refreshments and logistical equipment.

There was hardly any sign of lavishness in Davies’ camp at the University of Technology and even worse in the case of Blythe who spent most of the day in his SUV parked on the premises.

There were no incidents and no serious accidents. A medical team including a doctor and three nurses provided by the Ministry of Health cited the most serious injury as a woman who hurt her toe and lost her toe nails, including a false one.

Soon after Director of Elections, Danville Walker, closed off on the voting he had a confrontation with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, KD Knight, who threatened to “mash up the damn thing,” unless a constituent whom he had identified was allowed to vote.

Knight claimed that the man been there since morning and was told by the appeals committee to get a letter verifying his status as a delegate. The man apparently got the letter, but Walker insisted that if his name was not on the list he could not be allowed to vote.

Knight insisted that Walker was only an employee doing a job for the party and therefore should not be able to overrule the appeals committee, headed by Burchell Whiteman, the party’s general secretary.

But Walker stood his ground stating that he had to stick to the rules set by the Electoral Office. Eventually Knight calmed down and the man was not allowed to vote.

The media was told to leave the area as the matter was an internal one and no coverage was allowed for the work of the appeals committee, but some journalists refused to move.

Over at Phillips camp, Minister of Health John Junor said he was satisfied that the election was fairly well done, based on the nature of the election and the intensity of the campaign, but had some reservations about the delegates selection and the appeals process.

“We are going to have to look at the constitutional provisions on the 14-day rule for delegate determination. I think that the appeals process got squeezed into a process that really was not an appeal, but a review,” Junor said.

“An appeal must mean that there are arguments presented, et cetera, and not just on the basis of the secretariat’s investigations.”

He said the party had to look to the future for improvements of that system.

He also criticised the fact that the entrance to the facility for voting was “badly handled.”

“We probably should have widened that entrance point and allowed for a faster processing through there,” he added.

But PNP chairman Robert Pickersgill was beaming at the end of the vote, satisfied with the smoothness of the process.

“In a word, I was impressed,” he told the Sunday Observer at the close of the polls.

“The venue was changed to come here and I must say, in retrospect, I think it has turned out better than if we were at the (National) Arena. It has really facilitated the entire process and I think that all the fears that were entertained before have now been vanquished.”

– balfordh@jamaicaobserver.com