The Election Monitoring and Appeals Committee of the People’s National Party, PNP, has ruled that National Workers Union delegates will be allowed to vote in the party’s presidential election on Saturday.
Last week, South East St Ann MP and PNP Presidential Candidate, Lisa Hanna, challenged the list of persons submitted by the NWU to be delegates to the party’s conference on November 7.
Ms Hanna is going up against South St Andrew MP, Mark Golding, in the contest to replace Dr. Peter Phillips as PNP President.
The Election Monitoring and Appeals Committee says it expects that both camps will make no further public comment on the matter.
More in this report from Tauna Thomas.
Last week, our news centre reported that in a complaint to the party’s General Secretary, Julian Robinson, Ms Hanna’s Campaign Manager, Donna Scott Mottley requested that the NWU be put to strict proof that the list of delegates is reflected in the filing, failing which, she said the delegates should be disqualified from voting in the presidential election.
In a statement to media yesterday, the PNP Secretariat said after consultation and deliberation, it was determined that the NWU’s failure to file certain statutory returns was not sufficient to disqualify the union from naming delegates.
Chairman of the Committee, Norman Minott, says though the committee had concerns, the party was not in a position to disqualify any individual named on the NWU delegates list.
The Committee also noted that the Hanna team also raised questions about whether the NWU failed to comply with its own structural framework for the selection of delegates.
Mr Minott says the Election Monitoring and Appeals Committee considered the objections raised by the Hanna camp as legitimate issues that warranted enquiry and consideration.
Meanwhile, according to the statement issued by the PNP Secretariat yesterday, PNP Chairman, Fitz Jackson, commented on the Committee’s concerns related to issues surrounding the party’s relationship with the NWU.
Mr Jackson, who’s also a member of the party’s Election Monitoring and Appeals Committee, says the committee is recommending that the party take urgent action to implement the recommendations contained in the report of a board of enquiry established by the party and chaired by Danny Roberts.
In the meantime, the PNP’s Election Monitoring and Appeals Committee Chairman says it would not be making any further public statements on the matter and that all outstanding matters will be addressed internally.
According to Mr Minott, the committee expects that all parties will act in a similar manner by not making any further public comments on the matter.
