THE decision by Pearnel Charles and Rudyard Spencer to throw their hats in the ring for the post of deputy leader in charge of Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Area Council Three is “not particularly intriguing’, according to General Secretary Dr Horace Chang.

The post is being vacated by Audley Shaw, who has announced his intention to challenge Andrew Holness for the leadership of the 70-year-old party. Charles is the member of Parliament (MP) for North Central Clarendon, while Spencer is the MP for South East Clarendon.

Shaw, who made the announcement of the pending challenge in a broadcast on Sunday, had indicated weeks earlier that he would not seek re-election as deputy leader paving the way for bids.

“Mr Spencer and Mr Charles have both been nominated. I received the nominations and they will go up for the post on conference day when the rest of the voting takes place,” Dr Chang told the Jamaica Observer on Monday.

According to Dr Chang, the elections for the two men will be done at the same time as Shaw’s and Holness’s in the party’s upcoming November conference. He disclosed that the party has not received any other declarations of interest for the deputy leader post.

“Those are the only two we have had. I have not had any indications that there will be any additional nominations,” he explained.

In the meantime, he said he saw nothing spectacular in the two men choosing to bid for the one position.

“There’s nothing to describe, the two of them have expressed an interest, they are two stewards of the party and they have a right to run, so I don’t find anything particularly intriguing about it that they both indicated an interest. It will be interesting what the delegates decide to do,” Dr Chang said.

As it relates to possible bids for other three area councils, he said there was still time for any such indication to be made.

“We have another week at least to meet the deadlines, the area councils can meet to have nominations so we would have to await those timeframes which they have,” Dr Chang said.

Shaw is one of the JLP’s four deputy leaders. The JLP’s Desmond McKenzie is the leader of Area Council One (Kingston and St Andrew), while James Robertson is the leader of Area Council Two (St Catherine, St Thomas, Portland and St Mary). Dr Christopher Tufton is the leader of Area Council Four (Hanover, St Elizabeth, Trelawny, St James and Westmoreland).

Area Council Three comprises constituencies in Manchester, Clarendon and St Ann.

— Alicia Dunkley-Willis