SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Rumours, uncertainty and tension prevailed among supporters of the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) in St Elizabeth North East (NE) yesterday, following further delays in the challenge to Raymond Pryce’s leadership of the constituency.

The delegate vote to choose between Member of Parliament Pryce and Santa Cruz businessman Evon Redman for chairmanship of St Elizabeth NE was pushed back from yesterday for the second time in a week.

This time the indefinite delay came because of a court injunction applied for by Pryce supporters.

The court action, led by former Mayor of Black River Daphne Holmes, claimed Redman was illegible because he was not a paid-up member of the party; and that the voters’ list was riddled with errors, including people long dead.

The court action triggered anger among Redman supporters who early yesterday blocked sections of the Union to Balaclava main road with fallen trees and debris. The road was eventually cleared.

The PNP leadership had cited “tension” in the constituency for delaying the delegate selection from the previous Saturday to yesterday.

The winner of the delegates’ vote would have been expected to be the PNP’s candidate in parliamentary elections, which are constitutionally due in early 2017, but which many analysts believe will be held very soon.

With a Supreme Court hearing now set for Wednesday and the party’s National Conference scheduled for the weekend, there was concern being expressed in some quarters yesterday that the PNP leadership could bypass the delegates and recommend a “compromise candidate”.

One PNP source who asked not to be named said the PNP president, and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, and the party executive could decide that given the ongoing turmoil, both Pryce and his challenger are now unviable.

“Pryce is now mortally wounded because he and his people decided to take the party to court — which you don’t do — and Redman too is being hurt because of the bitterness, so the party president may decide that the best course of action is to recommend someone she considers suitable,” the source said.

Four years ago, Pryce easily defeated the Jamaica Labour Party’s Corris Samuels by more than 4,000 votes. Pryce came to the constituency just weeks before the December 2011 election on the recommendation of Simpson Miller. This was after Basil Waite, the candidate selected by delegates, was ruled unviable for reasons that were never officially made clear.

Waite was himself selected by delegates after the dropping of then MP Kern Spencer, as a result of the fallout from corruption charges related to the so-called Cuban light bulb scandal. Spencer was eventually cleared following a court case lasting years.

But a former high-ranking member of the PNP argued that in the current circumstances, an arbitrary move to impose a candidate on St Elizabeth NE would be too risky. It would make far more sense for the party to revert to the delegate selection after the weekend national conference, subject to the court ruling, he said.

“There is nothing to prevent the party executive from giving permission for the delegates’ selection to be held after National Conference and before Nomination Day,” the former party officer said.

Yesterday, efforts to reach Pryce for a comment failed. He responded by text to a telephone call to say he was in a meeting and would return the call. But up to press time the link was not made.

Redman, who has said he entered the contest because of what he considered to be Pryce’s failure to adequately lead and unite the constituency organisation, insisted he would not withdraw.

“I am in the race for the long haul,” he said. “Clearly there is a plan by my opponent (Pryce) to frustrate the process… but I am not giving up. My supporters are depending on me to represent them and I cannot let them down,” he said.

Redman, a former chairman of the constituency organisation with links dating back to the early 1970s, declined to comment when asked about the possibility of a compromise candidate being put forward.

Chairman of the PNP’s Region Five Mikael Phillips also shied away from any such discussion when reached by telephone.

Instead, he said, Comrades in St Elizabeth NE should await the decision of the court on Wednesday and see “where we go from there”.

Once the court action is done with, the party would have to seek a “solution” in consultation with the delegates, said Phillips.

“There has to be a discussion with the delegates of the constituency,” Phillips said.

Sandra Dobson, a St Elizabeth NE constituency executive member who is supporting Redman, insisted that once the court action is complete, the delegates must be given the right to choose.

“I am saying to the leadership of the party, let’s sit and discuss the best way forward to allow the delegates to choose their candidate. It should always be about giving the delegates the right to choose,” she said.

Dobson expressed disappointment that some Comrades resorted to road blocks to protest the further delay of the delegates’ vote.

“We shouldn’t be blocking roads,” said Dobson. “We can have a protest in a peaceful, lawful way and send the same message,” she said.