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Efforts by senior officers of the People’s National Party (PNP) to quell rising tension in the North East St. Elizabeth constituency over the candidate selection seemed to have failed.
RJR News has been informed that a mere hour after Party President Portia Simpson Miller urged party supporters to remain calm, a Councillor was involved in a physical altercation with a female party worker.
The incident occurred just after 11 o'clock Sunday night at Union Square, near Balaclava.
Rising tension
There has been a flurry of interest in the seat since MP Kern Spencer's announcement that he may not run for the seat in the next election.
This has resulted in rising tension in the constituency between supporters of the various candidates seeking to replace him.
The party summoned the players to a meeting last week and laid down ground rules.
However those efforts seemed to have failed as on Sunday night, tempers flared.
We were told that at the end of a constituency meeting, a fracas broke out involving supporters aligned to rival camps.
It is understood that party supporters had to forcibly restrain a councillor who allegedly shoved the female party worker.
The woman lodged a complaint with the Balaclava Police on Sunday night, claiming she was physically attacked by the councillor.
The Balaclava Police have confirmed that they also received reports of death threats being made to party members.
Kern’s warning
On Monday morning Mr. Spencer told RJR News he had warned his party that this would have happened.
“I told them in the meeting that if the situation is not managed properly on the ground, not in a meeting in Kingston, managed properly on the ground, what happened last night would not have happened. The fact is that…if persons put themselves forward and the impression is given that you are disrespecting the present Member of Parliament, then you are going to have retaliation on the ground,” Mr. Spencer said.
He says he will be recommending to the PNP that all campaign activities be suspended.
“I think it is needed and I think that if I did not give that recommendation I would be irresponsible. As someone who lives in the constituency, as someone who is on the ground on a daily basis, I would be irresponsible if I did not give the recommendation to the party. If the party does not want to act in that way I just believe that tempers need to be calmed,” Mr. Spencer said.
Opposition Spokesman on Education Senator Basil Waite and Chairman of the party's Region 5, Wentworth Skeffrey have already handed in papers indicating their interest in the seat.
No more fighting
Meanwhile, the PNP says it will be moving swiftly to prevent a recurrence of what transpired on Sunday night.
Deputy General Secretary Julian Robinson told RJR News the matter has been referred to its Internal Affairs Commission.
“We totally condemn this type of behaviour and it goes against both the spirit and content of the Code of Conduct which all the aspirants and their teams agreed to on Saturday. It is a matter which we are treating with the utmost seriousness and it has been referred to the party’s Internal Affairs Commission and we intend to take swift action to ensure that the campaign is not conducted along these lines,”
He said it was too soon to say if political activities will be suspended.
“I think once we have gotten all reports in and the matter has been referred to the Internal Affairs, we will determine the best possible action in the interest of the party. I cannot say definitively that we will take that course of action at this point in time,” Mr. Robinson said.
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