Omar Anderson, Gleaner Writer
PHOTOS BY JUNIOR DOWIE, Staff Photographer -
Prime Minister P.J. Patterson (right ), Paul Burke, former Region Three chairman (left) and Minister of Transport and Works Robert Pickersgill, are in animated diiscussion at the National Arena.
VOTING TO elect the four People's National Party (PNP) vice-presidents was halted yesterday due to the late nomination of former PNP Region Three chairman Paul Burke. This caught the party off-guard.
The postponement of voting at the 66th annual conference of the PNP, which was rescheduled to yesterday because of Hurricane Ivan last year, angered a number of delegates. Some of them described what happened as a 'hijack'. It will also prove very costly for the party and the other vice-presidential candidates Portia Simpson Miller, Dr. Peter Phillips, Dr. Karl Blythe, and Dr. Paul Robertson.
Once again, the party will have to trek delegates into the National Arena for the new election date, February 5. The four vice-presidential positions will be left vacant until then. However, party leader P.J. Patterson was returned unopposed.
Speaking with The Sunday Gleaner, PNP chairman Robert Pickersgill said Mr. Burke's late nomination forced the party to seek a postponement as the secretariat was ill-prepared for the surprise move.
"The delegates and the secretariat were not convinced that the necessary preparations for an election were in place," he said. "You need ballot papers, the names of the candidates printed, polling booths, and ballot boxes."
According to Mr. Pickersgill, although there were rumours that Mr. Burke may have been a late starter in the presidential race, there was no evidence to support the allegation, so the party did not sufficiently prepare for an additional candidate in the vice-presidential race.
"Because it's a constitutional requirement that at annual conference, voting for those offices takes place, the delegates had to unanimously agree to postpone it," he stated.
Meanwhile, Mr. Pickersgill admitted that since the postponement, there have been agitations to have the PNP constitution amended so candidates vying for any of the party's top posts, declare their interest on a date before the conference.
The PNP chairman added that the postponement will pose some sort of setback.
"It's a repeated cost for the venue, and delegates will have to come (back), and the postponement will also be a cost for the secretariat," he said.
For his part, Dr. Peter Phillips, one of the four de facto PNP vice-presidents, told The Sunday Gleaner that the postponement was no setback.
"I think we have to ensure that the interests of the party are fully provided for," he stated. "What we need to do is to ensure that the election can be held in a way that is protective of principles of the party, that all candidates can be confident in the arrangement."
Commenting on the unfolding of events yesterday, another de facto vice-president, Portia Simpson Miller, said Mr. Burke's late nomination underscores that democracy is at work in the PNP.
"This will not be a setback for delegates and support for me, I think the delegates will be back in two weeks' time," she said. "I think the PNP is a democratic party, and anyone who wishes to offer him or herself for leadership, can be given the right to do so."
According to Mrs. Simpson Miller, Mr. Burke could have indicated his interest to the party, but she noted there was nothing wrong with him coming to the conference floor and offering himself.
"What the party needs to do is to be prepared that in case somebody should come and wants to run, the party machinery should be prepared to deal with," she suggested.
Meanwhile, several delegates with whom The Sunday Gleaner spoke, said they believe the vice-presidential voting was 'hijacked'. However, they said they were still prepared to return on February 5 to vote.
"To me it's a good suggestion because it would be too sudden to prepare," said Charles Irving, a 69-year-old supporter of Dr. Karl Blythe from Western Westmoreland.
June Brown, 50, another supporter from Western Westmoreland, said she agreed with Mr. Patterson that a postponement was necessary.
"It (postponement) doesn't impede me one bit, I'm a devoted woman to my party," she told The Sunday Gleaner.
