SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Delegates are eagerly awaiting a date to decide who will be the People’s National Party (PNP) representative in St Elizabeth North Eastern, against the backdrop of complaints of irregularities stemming from a recent internal poll.

Chairman of the PNP’s Region Five Kern Spencer and lawyer Zuleika Jess are vying to represent the party in the constituency for the next parliamentary election.

On Tuesday, PNP General Secretary Dayton Campbell, in responding to a Jamaica Observer query regarding the selection process for the party’s representative in seat, said “the delegates will decide”.

Last Sunday, PNP President Mark Golding explained that the party has embarked on a new process to select candidates that will give it the “strongest team” going into the next general election.

The process, the PNP president said, involves a poll that serves as a preliminary screening of contenders for seats that are being contested internally.

Party sources told the Observer that the poll commissioned for St Elizabeth North Eastern showed Spencer with 32 per cent, Jess with 24 per cent, and Raymond Pryce with 22 per cent. Pryce hasn’t publicly declared his interest in the seat.

Jess, during a Facebook Live post last Friday, urged her supporters not to be misled by “fake polls”.

“…Pay no attention to the misinformation that is being put out there by other candidates who are stating that they have won polls and are stating that they are simply going to be ratified as the candidate. I just wanted to disabuse your mind from the untruths which were circulating,” Jess said.

Efforts by the Jamaica Observer to get a comment from Jess were unsuccessful on Tuesday.

Jess lost to the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) giant Mike Henry in the 2020 parliamentary election in Clarendon Central.

Spencer, who won St Elizabeth North Eastern for the PNP in 2007, declined to comment on Tuesday. He was forced to walk away from competitive politics in the build-up to the 2011 elections following corruption charges — which were eventually dismissed — relating to the so-called Cuban light bulb scandal.

When contacted, up to mid-afternoon Tuesday, Pryce said he was unable to speak.

Two sitting PNP councillors, Everton Fisher and Audie Myers, have thrown their weight behind Jess. Myers, who represents the Siloah Division, declined to comment on Tuesday.

Fisher, councillor for the Balaclava Division and a former mayor of Black River, told the Observer that there are concerns regarding alleged irregularities with the polls.

“The party has referred both Mr Spencer and Miss Jess to the delegates so we are awaiting a date to be announced for the delegates’ selection, but we are ready and confident fully behind Miss Jess as we face the delegates,” Fisher said.

“We have some concerns as it is quite clear that one of the strongest divisions — which is Siloah — was not polled, so I think the party would be sending back the pollster. But the bottom line is, regardless of who comes out on the top, they seem to be the two contenders who will be going towards the seat,” he added.

The other sitting councillor (Braes River Division) aligned to the PNP in the constituency, Donovan Pagon, who is also the party’s chairman for St Elizabeth North Eastern, said he can’t comment on the matter “[because] I am on the selection panel for the region and it wouldn’t be fair to comment”.