Golding defends changes to PNP candidate-selection process
Published:Monday | April 24, 2023 | 1:01 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
People’s National Party (PNP) President Mark Golding has stressed that the opposition party was forced to adjust its candidate-selection process for prospective parliamentarians to boost their chances of victory when the next polls are held.
Golding, who is also the opposition leader, was addressing journalists and PNP supporters at the party’s National Executive Council meeting at the Montego Bay Community College in Montego Bay, St James, on Sunday.
Party faithful in at least two constituencies – St Ann North Eastern and St Catherine South Eastern – have expressed concerns with the changes.
“We have embarked on a slightly modulated or adjusted process for selecting our candidates in the constituencies for the next general election, and we have done so primarily for the reason that we want to ensure that the PNP delivers a victory for the people of Jamaica in the next election. We want to ensure that the candidates we select to represent the party are those most suited and able to deliver that victory,” Golding said.
“The traditional process was one in which the delegates and group members in a particular constituency – if it was a recognised constituency – were the ones who chose the candidate. We are moving to a ‘one member, one vote’ system in the party, and that involves a process of reverification of membership, and so on,” he added. “With it being a process, it has required refinement over the past two or three months, and the leadership is listening to the delegates, the aspirants, and the NEC members to make such adjustments as may be necessary to ensure fairness in the process.”
POLL CONCERNS
Last week, outgoing St Ann South Eastern Member of Parliament Lisa Hanna raised concern over the use of polls to select candidates for a run-off to succeed her as the PNP standard-bearer in the constituency.
Potential candidates are required to poll at least 25 per cent support to qualify for the run-off.
Former West Indies cricketer Wavell Hinds, JMMB Group Chief Operating Officer Patricia Duncan Sutherland, and Harvard graduate Dr Kenneth Russell are the PNP members vying for the nod.
Golding said that the issues in St Ann South Eastern are being resolved.
“On the question which is to do with St Ann South Eastern, we have had the discussion in the NEC today (Sunday) about the process because the element of polling is somewhat new. There were various combinations of possibilities that had to be resolved by the NEC. The spirit in which it is being resolved is very positive, and part of my message to the NEC is that we are all in this together,” said Golding.