The Final Quarterly General Council Meeting of the main opposition PNCR for 2010 is to be held today and the process for the next presidential candidate is high on the agenda.
The PNCR yesterday revealed that its presidential candidate could be decided by early next year even. Chief Whip Lance Carberry said there was no fixed timeline for that process, which has several steps to be followed before they can arrive at the party’s choice. “The whole idea is to ensure that there’s transparency and there’s fairness so that in fact you would not as journalists come to the conclusion that we are not pursuing a very democratic course,” he said.
The party, in a statement, noted that the General Council Meeting would consider the recommendations, which the Central Executive Committee was mandated to submit, “proposing the criteria to be met, and process to be employed, for the election of the Party’s Presidential Candidate for the 2011 National and Regional Elections.” It said it anticipated that, “following the approval of the recommendations from the Central Executive Committee, the General Council would give directions for the implementation of the process for the election of the Party’s Presidential Candidate for the 2011 National and Regional Elections.”
The selection process, Carberry added, would be publicised following today’s meeting. Presentations will be made by the Party Chairman, Bishwaishwar “Cammie” Ramsaroop, General Secretary Oscar Clarke and PNCR Leader Robert Corbin.
The statement said Clarke’s report will deal with activities of the party since the last General Council, both centrally and regionally, while those of the Chairman and the Party Leader will deal with issues of a policy nature, internal to the party as well as of a national character.
The Central Executive Committee will be submitting the recommendations proposing the criteria to be met and process to be employed for the election of the presidential candidate.
Former Party Chairman Winston Murray, Brigadier (retd) David Granger and PNCR Vice-Chairman Basil Williams are the individuals who have so far expressed interest in being the party’s candidate.
