OPPOSITION LEADER Edward Seaga has made a timely intervention to rescue the party he still leads from the unseemly squabbling that has overtaken it.
Last weekend's aborted annual conference was to have marked the end of his 30-year tenure. Election of his successor was supposed to have been the main focus of a historic occasion paying him tribute and rededicating the party to renewed resolve to regain political power.
For some weeks, however, the party has been bitterly divided in support for either Bruce Golding or Pearnel Charles, the contenders to succeed Mr. Seaga. A dispute over the legitimacy of the delegate's list to be used in the election has dragged on, unresolved by a seeming lack of comradely consensus in the party hierarchy.
Not even what sounded like an ultimatum from the director of elections, responding to a request for the Electoral Office to run the elections, made any difference to the deadlock.
Ultimately, court action, initiated by the Pearnel Charles camp, has succeeded in getting an injunction which effectively barred the holding of the election last weekend.
Legal technicalities have delayed any resolution of the crisis until later this week when the Supreme Court will hear arguments to determine the issue.
In the meantime, Mr. Seaga, quite rightly declaring that he is still the de facto leader, said over the weekend that he will try to "steady the ship". He insists that he has no ambition to continue as leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) beyond the election of a new leader.
We think Mr. Seaga is acting as an elder stateman should, conscious of the importance of the JLP in the bipartisan democracy that Jamaica still enjoys.
If he succeeds in sorting out the débâcle it will given credence to the view that the JLP's tradition of strong leadership at the top is vital to its survival. His success would be the ultimate irony in that much of the fractious tendencies in his long tenure derived from his own no-nonsense leadership.
It is worth noting that in the period since Mr. Seaga announced that he would be stepping down, Mr. Golding as party chairman would have been seen as interim leader; and indeed he was regarded as front-runner in the race. But the role of contender might have been a mitigating factor in any attempt to impose his will.
Mr. Seaga must mend the fences and restore faith in the bipartisan system.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
