Phillips, Bunting set to be nominated in PNP leadership race
Published:Friday | July 26, 2019 | 12:00 AMErica Virtue/Senior Gleaner Writer
The contenders in the race for president of the People’s National Party (PNP) will be called to the blocks today to officially start their dash to the September 7 polls.
Peter David Phillips, the sitting president and member of parliament for St Andrew East Central, and Peter Murcott Bunting, former general secretary and member of parliament for Manchester Central, are expected to contend for the post.
PNP Chairman Fitz Jackson told The Gleaner yesterday that both candidates are expected to hand in nomination papers to General Secretary Julian Robinson at the PNP’s Old Hope Road headquarters in St Andrew by midday.
“They will present prescribed nomination forms, plus an undertaking that they will conduct their campaigns in line with the code of conduct governing the elections,” Jackson said.
He said plans for a public signing of the code of conduct had been shelved as it ran counter to the PNP’s constitution.
“The party’s constitution required that they have to be duly nominated. Contenders can’t sign. Candidates can. It means that a public signing will be post-nomination, sometime later in the week,” said Jackson.
Bunting is to be nominated between 8:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. with Phillips set to hand in his papers between 11 a.m. and midday.
Twelve registered PNP members, who are also on the voters’ list provided by the Electoral Office of Jamaica, must accompany each nominee.
Jackson said that in an effort to speed up the process, the names and particulars of the persons nominating the candidates were sent to the secretariat for pre-clearance.
“Festivities, I imagine, will go on for some time, but the nomination process itself will be speedy,” he added.
Meanwhile, some caretakers have moved from the unknown/undecided category. The latest to declare for Phillips is Valenton Wint, caretaker for St Ann South Western.