THE leadership of the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) may again be called upon to address disquiet that has developed in another constituency, even as it declares that its candidate selection process has almost been completed.

In the latest case, some members of the party’s machinery in the East Rural St Andrew constituency are upset over reports that former president of the PNP Youth Organisation, Damion Crawford, has been selected to represent the party in the constituency.

It’s understood that comrades in the constituency were reportedly caught off guard by the disclosure as they were reportedly throwing their support behind Leacroft Forden, a former member of the PNP’s young professional arm, the Patriots, who has been a member of the constituency’s executive for more than 20 years.

A senior party official confirmed last Monday that Crawford will represent the PNP in the constituency, but said that an official announcement would be made by midweek after the candidate had been introduced to the full executive of the East Rural St Andrew constituency.

But according to reports reaching the Sunday Observer, the party’s leadership got wind of the supporters’ complaints and convened a meeting on Wednesday of last week with representatives of the constituency executive.

At that meeting, called by the party’s General Secretary, Peter Bunting, the disgruntled PNP members were reportedly told that no decision had been made regarding the party’s candidate and that consultations were being conducted to determine which of the men would be able to bring home the seat, which is now controlled by the Jamaica Labour Party’s Joseph Hibbert.

Speaking with the Sunday Observer, Forden said he was very surprised by the reports that Crawford had received the nod as he was awaiting the completion of the candidate selection process. Forden, who has formally applied to be the party’s candidate, stated that as far as he knows, the PNP’s leadership has not yet decided on a representative. Crawford said he had no idea that another person was interested in representing the PNP in the constituency, but acknowledged that he was aware that the party had not completed its selection process.

Meanwhile, former member of Parliament and part of the PNP’s machinery in East Rural St Andrew, Oliver Clue, sought to downplay claims of disquiet among party faithfuls in the constituency and suggested that while some persons may have their preferences, most are determined to allow the selection process to take its course.

The East Rural St Andrew seat has been a bone of contention within the PNP for the past several months.

At one point the consituency was being represented at the party level by businessman Peter Blake, who was declared the winner in an internal contest held last year between Andrew Willis, Paul Buchanan and himself. Supporters of the losing candidates blamed their defeat on a breakdown of the party’s machinery, as some delegates were reportedly locked out of the voting room.

Blake later emerged as constituency chairman, but was reportedly seen by party insiders as a weak candidate and not formidable enough to take on anyone from the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which won the seat in the last two elections.

There were also claims by party insiders that the PNP’s Integrity Commission had several questions in respect of Blake’s candidacy, something which the party has remained mum about.

“At the moment, East Rural St Andrew has a candidate,” Bunting said when first asked about the situation in that electoral division after a press conference in July announcing that most of the PNP’s slate of candidates had been selected.

“I am not following you there. I am not going to comment further on that constituency,” was Bunting’s retort when pressed further by the Observer.

However, a report in the July 17 edition of the Sunday Observer, pointed to claims by other party seniors, who declined to be named, insisting that Blake might soon be relieved of his responsibilities. One of them said that it could happen “within weeks” so as to allow for a “more vibrant person to take charge”.

The PNP’s candidate is expected to challenge the Jamaica Labour Party’s Joan Gordon-Webley, who has been very visible in the constituency. She is tipped to replace the ruling party’s sitting MP, Joseph Hibbert, who may not contest the seat as his troubles relating to a bribery scandal involving British firm Mabey and Johnson have not yet ended.

The embattled politician resigned from his post as junior minister in the Ministry of Transport and Works in 2009 after being implicated in a probe by the British bridge-building firm, which pleaded guilty in a UK court to bribing public officials in countries where it does business, including Jamaica, Ghana and Iraq.

Although Hibbert denied that he accepted a bribe from company officials while he served as chief technical director in the transport and works ministry during the previous PJ Patterson administration, he still quit.