SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth – Hundreds of Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) delegates are expected to turn up at the St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) today to choose their standard bearer for St Elizabeth North Eastern in the next parliamentary election.

The PNP’s deputy general secretary Basil Waite and councillor for the Balaclava Division Everton Fisher are the choices before the delegates.

General Secretary Julian Robinson, who will serve as director of election, has said that 1,100 delegates are eligible to vote. However, local observers point out that death, migration and other factors mean the total coming out today is likely to be significantly fewer than the number registered.

Voting begins at 10:00 and is set to close at 4:00 pm. “By 5:00 pm we expect counting to be completed and everything settled,” Robinson told the Jamaica Observer by telephone on Thursday.

The delegates’ selection conference was called after Member of Parliament Evon Redman indicated to the party that he will not be seeking a second term. Jamaica’s Constitution dictates that parliamentary elections become due in 2021. However, Prime Minister Andrew Holness has the right to call Jamaicans to the polls before then.

Waite couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday but Fisher, a former Mayor of Black River and chairman of the St Elizabeth Parish Council, expressed confidence despite noting that other divisional leaders in St Elizabeth North Eastern were actively supporting Waite.

The other divisional leaders are Councillor Audie Myers of the Siloah Division, Councillor Donovan Pagon, Braes River Division and Maureen Thompson who is caretaker for the Santa Cruz Division.

“I am confident that I have the support of the majority of the delegates,” said Fisher. He said he expected to get the support of 85 to 95 per cent of delegates in his Balaclava Division which has the largest block of registered delegates — 360. Fisher is banking on winning a majority in Santa Cruz as well as securing enough support in Siloah and Braes River to get him over the line.

“There are some challenges, but based on my track record of work, performance, and the high level of trust that people have in me, I am very confident,” he said.

He predicted logistical problems for both sides, especially if there is rain today because of the long distances some delegates will have to travel to get to Santa Cruz. The cost of travel for individual delegates as well as for candidates striving to get their supporters to the polling centre was also a major factor, he said.

‘This is a very large constituency and I think in future, for exercises like this, the party should consider reducing the cost and distance of travel by having more than just one polling centre,” he said. Two or three more centres at central geographic locations would make a big difference, Fisher argued.

And “win or lose”, Fisher also felt the PNP “erred” by doing a selection conference now. He suggested there was now a real risk of bitter divisions opening up among Comrades.

“I think it is unfortunate to even have a selection at this time when we are just recovering from disunity (prior to last election in 2016). I think the MP (Redman) should have been allowed to continue trying to heal old wounds and to do his work without distractions. My fear is that we could now have divisions and bitterness…,” he said.

Over the last decade, the PNP has had to cope with a number of crises involving representation in St Elizabeth North Eastern which is a traditional stronghold for the party.

Kern Spencer comfortably won St Elizabeth North Eastern on the PNP ticket in 2007 by 2,138 votes, even as the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) took over Government for the first time since the 1980s. However, Spencer had to give up leadership of the PNP’s constituency organisation after going before the court on corruption charges related to the so-called Cuban light bulb scandal. Spencer was eventually cleared of all charges.

Following Spencer’s exit, Waite won the support of PNP delegates in 2010.

However, Waite was sidelined by the PNP leadership for reasons that remain unclear, prior to the December 2011 elections, paving the way for Raymond Pryce to be the party’s standard bearer.

Pryce won the seat by over 4,000 votes, reflecting a strong nationwide swing towards the PNP.

But Pryce struggled to unite Comrades, leading to a challenge and eventual displacement by Redman during a period of instability and deep divisions. Such was the level of discord that Redman won the seat in 2016 by just 1,524 votes – 7,733 to the JLP’s Dr Saphire Longmore’s 6,209.

Two independent candidates shared 778 votes between them — most of those electors were believed at the time to be disgruntled former Pryce supporters.