PNP Committee Accepts NWU Delegates For Presidential Poll

By: Admin

Image caption: The internal appeals committee made the decision on October 31, 2020 - Contributed photo.

The more than four dozen delegates chosen by the National Workers’ Union (NWU) will be added to the voters’ list for the People’s National Party’s (PNP) presidential election scheduled for Saturday.

That was the ruling by an internal appeals committee late yesterday, chairman of the body, Norman Minott, confirmed today.

St Ann South Eastern Member of Parliament Lisa Hanna, one of the two candidates vying to become PNP president, had raised concerns about whether the list of delegates submitted by the trade union was eligible for admission.

She is going up against St Andrew Southern MP, Mark Golding.

According to Minott, the concerns centre around the provisions of section 16 (1) (c) of the Trade Union Act, which requires local unions to file a list of members by August 1 each year.

He said that Hanna supporters made it clear that they were seeking clarification of the provision.

“We looked at it carefully and we decided that this section was not prohibitive or it could not, when properly interpreted, serve to justify the delegates being kept out,” Minott said.

Six days before approximately 3,400 delegates are scheduled to vote for a new PNP president, the race between Hanna and Golding is in a dead heat, according to a Sunday Gleaner report today, based on the findings of a new opinion poll.

The poll was commissioned by the Golding camp and conducted by Don Anderson and his team at Market Research Limited.

Hanna was the choice for 46.2 per cent of respondents, who were asked to name the person they would prefer to lead the PNP at this time.

Golding was right behind, with 45.2 per cent of respondents identifying him as their choice to succeed Dr Peter Phillips.

The former justice minister led Hanna 45.9 per cent to 45.3 per cent when respondents were asked to name the person best suited to lead the PNP at this time, based on a list of qualities that were identified.

The poll surveyed 1,077 persons in all 14 parishes over a five-day period starting on October 24.

It has a margin of error of plus or minus three per cent.

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