With just under one third of the delegates eligible to vote in today’s People’s National Party (PNP) presidential election based in the organisation’s Region Three, the long-time chairman of the region Phillip Paulwell has made a last-ditch plea for them to back Lisa Hanna.

Paulwell, a vice-president of the PNP, has publicly endorsed Hanna, who is in a battle with Mark Golding for the party’s top job, and as D-Day approaches, he yesterday urged delegates in the region, which he chaired for 12 years, to line up behind her.

The PNP’s Region Three, which covers Kingston and St Andrew, has just over 1,000 of the approximately 3,500 delegates who are eligible to vote today, and Paulwell is well aware that a strong showing by Hanna when these delegates vote is crucial.

In his letter to the delegates, Paulwell said this is a critical period for the PNP as the defeat in the September 3, 2020 General Election was due to disunity, failure to expand its base, and its failure to attract new and younger voters.

“Over 140,000 PNP supporters of the past did not vote. In January, at a forum with pollster Don Anderson, it was discussed with our candidates/campaign managers that there was a perception of disorder and disunity and that our traditional base was not tuned in. The pollster warned then that the party was heading for defeat if this perception continued,” Paulwell revealed.

He said even though several things were done to change this perception, the remnants of the 2019 challenge of Dr Peter Phillips by the Rise United team, led by Peter Bunting and chaired by Golding, persisted.

“The situation worsened when some MPs [Members of Parliament] wrote to Dr Phillips, as the Leader of the Opposition, during the time of his illness demanding a meeting,” said Paulwell as he argued that the electorate lost confidence in the PNP’s ability to deal with its internal affairs and the people rendered their verdict on September 3.

This makes it imperative that the PNP delegates elect Hanna to “Bring Back di Love”, Paulwell said, referencing Hanna’s campaign slogan.

He told the delegates in Region Three that Hanna had demonstrated her leadership qualities in the management of her constituency organisation.

“She is a strong and decisive leader, she is popular as well as outspoken on several issues, including creating a society based on social justice and equal opportunity,” he said.

The PNP vice-president noted that most of Hanna’s detractors speak to the issues she has faced with fellow Comrades in the St Ann South Eastern constituency, which she has held for four terms, but argued that his closeness to the process gives him some amount of insight and clarity in that situation.

Paulwell said he was asked by the then PNP President Portia Simpson Miller to convince Hanna to join the party and she entered that constituency at the party’s request and not her demand.

He said Hanna accepted without hesitation, but some within the constituency “strenuously and concertedly resisted the move, as they had another candidate in mind. The resistance persists to this day and many have not forgiven the party for the manner in which the process was managed. For this, Comrade Hanna is blameless”.

“Despite these challenges, Lisa Hanna has prevailed in four consecutive general elections. She will use the next few years to reset her relationship with the people of South East St Ann, a process she has already started, following on her election victory as party leader,” declared Paulwell.