Golding and CharlesOmar Anderson, Gleaner Writer
THE ELECTORAL Office of Jamaica (EOJ) will have nothing to do with the November 6 leadership race in the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) unless all election guidelines are adhered to, Danville Walker, the director of elections, warned yesterday.
In a letter to the JLP secretariat, Mr. Walker said that the EOJ would not be conducting the election unless the leadership contenders, Pearnel Charles and Bruce Golding, sign off on an agreed delegates list.
The EOJ boss has also asked that the 240 JLP officials in the 60 constituencies present to his office a list of their respective delegates.
Contacted yesterday, Mr. Walker said the EOJ would maintain zero tolerance with regards to compliance, warning that it was prepared to walk rather than allow its reputation to be sullied. He confirmed that a letter outlining the guidelines has already been sent to the JLP secretariat.
"I told them unless we have compliance, we are not going to become involved," he said. "When we run an election for a political party, it runs our way or you get somebody else else run it."
Meanwhile, Mr. Charles has indicated that he may be reluctant to sign off on the list in its current state, saying he would
saying he would be willing to take the matter to court to determine if it is credible enough for the election. In addressing a meeting of the Rotary Club of St. Andrew at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston yesterday, Mr. Charles said he was not ruling out legal intervention in settling his disapproval over the list.
"At whatever level it requires, the constitution of the party will be protected," he stressed.
Yesterday, JLP sources said that allegations were rife within the party that persons who are current members of the National Democratic Movement (NDM), which Mr. Golding founded in 1995, were listed as delegates on the current list.
However, the JLP has announced that its Central Executive, the highest decision-making body outside of annual conference, passed a resolution on Monday expressing confidence in the "competence and integrity" in how the secretariat elected delegates for the annual conference.
According to the party, constituencies have stuck to all the JLP's constitutional requirements during the election of the delegates, noting that the leadership aspirants were given sufficient time to submit any complaints they may have during the same process.
However, having the secretariat intricately involved in listing the delegates, JLP sources say, have not been sitting well with the Charles camp, which at a Standing Committee meeting last month, raised strong concerns about the manner in which delegates had been selected.
Mr. Walker said the EOJ has been meeting with the JLP secretariat to discuss ways in which an agreement can be reached before the party's annual conference on November 6.
