A nagging dispute over who should contest the Portland Eastern constituency in the next general election has forced the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) to shift its second Road Tour Public Meeting from Port Antonio to Annotto Bay, St Mary, today.

On Friday, supporters of the party told the Jamaica Observer that the decision to relocate the meeting was taken after it became obvious that passions were so inflamed over the matter, and that any such gathering of Comrades could lead to violent clashes.

“It is so bad here that Comrades are chucking each other on the streets,” one PNP supporter in Port Antonio told the Sunday Observer. “If that meeting were to be held here, probably people would get hurt.”

The controversy stems from the party’s decision to retain sitting Member of Parliament Dr Lynvale Bloomfield as the candidate in the next general election after he was defeated by newcomer Andrea Moore in a selection exercise in September.

Moore received 141 votes to Bloomfield’s 133 of the 384 delegates eligible to vote. However, more than a month after the run-off, some supporters continue to signal their dissatisfaction with the party’s decision.

Moore supporter Michael Anderson said the party has seriously erred in its decision to choose Bloomfield as the candidate.

“The fact is Bloomfield has done nothing for the constituency… and the world knows,” he told the Sunday Observer. Anderson, who is demanding to know what is happening, said the party officials have refused to speak to them about the issues they have raised.

“We need to meet with the party leader. She needs to come here and talk to us because it is so grave,” he said.

But one of Bloomfield’s supporters, Julian King, said he felt vindicated by the decision. “The selection is not just a selection, but a process,” he said. “There was a meeting in Kingston before the selection where the process was explained to both parties. After the selection, it was said by Comrade Morais Guy (regional chairman), specifically with the two aspirants at his side, that this is only a part of the process.

“What happens is that the Moore camp continues to mislead their followers, because if the Moore camp would be truthful to their followers and explain the process, and what took place, we would not be having a confusion at this time,” King said.

There are, however, other Comrades in the constituency who are not impressed with either Bloomfield or Moore who, they argued, are not from Portland.

Those Comrades had earlier indicated their support for Dr Dennis Minott. However, Minott’s challenge was scuttled by the party, and his appeal that two of the PNP officials who interviewed him prior to the selection exercise had inherent biases against him and should have recused themselves was ignored.

In July this year, Minott had argued that nothing of significance has been done in the constituency since Bloomfield won the seat in the 2011 election. However, Bloomfield, in his defence, told the Observer that “more has been done in the last three years”. He said he would let the facts play out by themselves.

At the time, he pointed to a number of infrastructural works that, he said, were about to begin, including the roadwork from Fellowship to Moore Town, valued at $145 million; Boston Beach upgrade, which would amount to approximately $30 million; upgrade of the Winnifred Road; and the construction of two bridges in Comfort Castle and Mill Bank.

But, with the controversy over his eventual selection by the party headquarters refusing to die, one PNP insider reminded the Sunday Observer yesterday that the absence of groups in Portland Eastern has resulted in it not being classified as a ‘recognised constituency’. As such, the party can override the decision of its delegates, and that was what happened in Moore’s case.

The dispute, though, has fuelled speculation that Prime Minister and PNP President Portia Simpson Miller is avoiding the constituency.

That view was amplified on Friday when Simpson Miller did not attend the launch of the Blue and John Crow Mountains as heritage site in Moore Town, where she was scheduled to give the main address.

Simpson Miller is scheduled to address today’s meeting in Annotto Bay, set to begin at 5:00 pm.