When the PNCR’s 17th Biennial Congress holds elections today, the party’s membership will be deciding whether the posts of party leader and the opposition leader should be held by the same person.
David Granger, who was presidential candidate for opposition coalition APNU and is now opposition leader and former Finance Minister Carl Greenidge are the two frontrunners in the race to be party leader.
The race is expected to be close as Granger only managed to edge out Greenidge in party elections in February last year by 15 votes, securing 279 votes to Greenidge’s 264 votes, out of the 666 votes cast at a special congress. At that time, Greenidge had signalled his interest at a late stage before nominations.
However, he was still able to make up significant ground despite his late entry by winning the backing of the supporters of the late Winston Murray, including Dr Richard Van West-Charles, who laid the groundwork for his campaign. With Van West-Charles since having left the party for the AFC, it is unclear whether Greenidge will be able to mobilise the support he had previously received.
Both Granger and Greenidge have since then had high profiles in the activities of the main opposition APNU—of which the PNCR has the largest constituent—particularly after last year’s elections. Granger, however, has led all candidates in the nominations by groups to be the PNCR leader, receiving 108 of the 168 nominations, while Greenidge received 55 nominations. Other nominees include departing Robert Corbin—who has decided not to run and will be the first PNC leader to give up the leadership and high-profile members Volda Lawrence, Basil Williams and Aubrey Norton.
The elections begin at 8.30am and voting will go until midday, after which the results will be announced. Conducting the elections will be attorney Michael Somersault and a team. Somersault will also function as Returning Officer for the polls. A total of 174 groups have been accredited by the Secretariat for participation in the nomination process and it is expected that over 800 persons will be eligible to vote in the elections at the congress and that a result would be announced this afternoon.
Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, party executive Joe Harmon said that the Accreditation Committee and the Returning Officer met the two leading candidates. He also said that the arrangements for the elections today are “well in train.”
Stabroek News yesterday observed that some delegates were split between the two main candidates for the post of leader.
Many persons, mostly women, argued in favour of a leader of the party who would also be the Leader of the Opposition.
Some persons loudly proclaimed that the symbol of the party was a palm tree, not two palm trees.
Some of them said that the party must remain united and not divided and that the separation of the posts of PNCR leader and opposition leader is something that could play into the hands of the government, should the party be split along these lines.
According to a statement yesterday by the PNCR on the second day of the congress, a plenary session saw a discussion that called for unity within the ranks of the party. “Delegates and observ-ers emphasised the fact that the PNCR is a great party and must, therefore, maintain its identity,” the statement said, while adding that they were reminded that APNU is not a political party but an organisation of political parties.
Greenidge has on many occasions made a case against the posts being held by a single person, saying that the new dispensation in parliament made it even more imperative for the party to avoid going down such a road.
“My campaign focuses on the need to have leadership of the PNCR dedicated primarily to rejuvenating the party, leadership that is not distracted by the demands of coordinating the efforts of the components of the APNU or of bringing the APNU and AFC in line to confront the PPP,” Greenidge told a recent news conference.
But Granger has said that it was for the exact reason that the positions should be consolidated. He disagreed with the many critics of his position on the consolidation of the two posts. These critics include West-Charles, Dr. Henry Jeffrey and Norton.
“We have a new dispensation… a new situation. The role of the PNCR inside APNU is much more critical than before because of the combined opposition,” he said. “There are five parties in the APNU that are in the Parliament so there is need for much more coordination. Some of the critics are underestimating the need for policy coordination in APNU,” he said, adding that the situation never existed before which called for the coordination of a much more complex situation. “Nobody can pretend it is simple,” he added.
Meanwhile, Greenidge had expressed reservations about some aspects of the process leading up to the elections and he expected them to be dealt with prior to the polls.
In addition to the post of leader, other positions will be contested at today’s elections. For the post of Chairman, there were 159 nominations, with incumbent Cammie Ramsaroop receiving 60, Williams receiving 57, Clement Corlette, 15, and Aubrey Norton, 12.
For the post of Vice-Chairpersons, for which each party group was entitled to submit two nominees, Dr George Norton led nominations with 106, followed by Williams (80), Lawrence (61), Deborah Backer (16), Aubrey Norton (12), Harmon (11), Ramsaroop (7), Corbin (7), James Bond (6) and 15 other persons.
The nominations for the post of Treasurer saw Ronald Bulkan leading with 46, followed by Clarence Charles (33), Lawrence (27), Ivelaw Henry (13) Corlette (8) and 5 others.
For the elections, candidates and delegates would be required to have photo identification along with other forms of identification. Persons will need picture ID, delegates’ card and another form of identification, which other persons will not have. Some weeks ago, General Secretary Oscar Clarke had announced that this third form of ID will be given to delegates only.
