More than a week after the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) finalised its list of nominees for the various leadership roles at its upcoming congress, the nominees are yet to receive an official letter asking them to accept or decline.
On November 17, the PNCR said that it would dispatch letters to the nominees for confirmation that they have accepted the nominations.
However, when Stabroek News checked in with a few of the nominees they said that they are still awaiting those letters.
A source within the party said that letters should have already been dispatched to the nominees since they had already been prepared. The source said that they “would be dispatched no later than today (Thursday).”
The party held its nomination day on November 12 ahead of its 21st Biennial Delegates Congress, which is scheduled for December 11.
“All nominees will be written to and requested to indicate by (date) their acceptance of the nominations. Failure to respond means that, should they otherwise qualify, their names would not automatically appear on the Ballot for the position/s for which they were nominated,” the PNCR had said.
The most hotly contested post will be for leadership of the party and there are seven nominees. Current Chairperson of the Party, Volda Lawrence, Basil Williams SC, Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon, Aubrey Norton, Dr Richard Van West-Charles, Carl Greenidge and Sharma Solomon are the nominees for the post of leader.
The current leader and former President, David Granger is not seeking re-election and is currently on leave from the party.
Based on the information provided by Stabroek News’ sources, Norton racked up the most nominations out of the group.
Additionally, for the post of Party Chairman, Lawrence was nominated along with Norton, Solomon, Van West-Charles, Harmon, Gary Best, Shurwayne Holder, Amanza Walton-Desir, Roysdale Forde, Annette Ferguson, Ronald Bulkan, Christopher Jones, Simona Broomes, Geeta Chandan, Dawn Hastings and Mervyn Williams.
The Party received 30 group nominations for the Vice-Chairmanship and 18 for treasurer.
The PNCR said that the Congress will be for delegates only, decentralised, and hybrid. It will be conducted over one day at Party Congress Houses and approved venues in the respective regions.
Granger is expected to address the opening of the Congress.
In relation to its elections, the Party said that it is common for a candidate to be nominated for and actually contest for more than one position. It related that the elections will be conducted in two stages with the result for each stage being declared before moving on to the next stage.
Stage one would encompass the election of Leader, Chairman, two Vice-Chairpersons and Treasurer while stage two would see the election of the members to the Central Executive Committee.
