KINGSTON, Jamaica — Daphne Holmes, the former mayor of Black River, has secured an injunction in the Supreme Court barring the holding of a conference to select any person as candidate to run as member of parliament for the constituency of St Elizabeth North East.

The embattled MP Raymond Pryce, who is supported by Holmes, is being challenged by Evon Redman for the constituency candidacy.

The injunction is in place for a period of 28 days but the court will on Saturday reconsider the injunction.

The injunction was granted by Justice Bryan Sykes at the end of an ex parte hearing.

“Injunction barring defendant [Paul Burke], his agents or servants or any agents of the People’s National Party or agents or servants from holding any conference to select any person for a candidature of Member of Parliament for the constituency of Saint Elizabeth North East for a period of 28 days as Amended in the Application,” said the ruling.

The court is to reconsider the matter at 9:00 am on September 12, 2015.

Read: Challenge to Pryce postponed

In the meantime, Hopeton McCatty, chairman of the PNP’s Region Five (St Elizabeth and Manchester) Selection Committee told OBSERVER ONLINE today: “We have heard in the news that an attempt is being made to get a court injunction but as far as the party is concerned at this point in time the delegates selection for St Elizabeth North East is on.  As far as we know unless the party secretariat says otherwise the selection is on…”

Regarding complaints reportedly made by Holmes about alleged errors on the voters list, McCatty said: “The list was made available to Comrade Pryce from the first week of August and he was asked to submit any errors he may have found. Up to this point in time he has not responded to that request.”

McCatty said that as chairman of the selection committee he could not respond to the complaint by Holmes about Redman’s eligibility as an aspirant to chairmanship of St Elizabeth North East.

Redman, a businessman is a former chairman of the PNP’s St Elizabeth North East Constituency Organisation and has links dating back to the early 1970s.

St Elizabeth North East is a flagship constituency for the PNP in rural Jamaica. In the parliamentary elections of December 2011, Pryce, despite taking over leadership of the constituency at very short notice, defeated the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party’s Corris Samuels by 4,068 votes.

The venue for the selection is the Santa Cruz All Age School. Voting is scheduled to begin at 10:00 am and close at 2:00 pm.

The vote was delayed by a week because of what the PNP’s hierarchy said was tension in the constituency.

Paul Henry and Garfield Myers