Nomination day for the candidates for PUP leader is Friday but the pressure is mounting on the party’s executive to make changes in the convention election procedure. Today the Northern Caucus constituting 8 divisions and chaired by Deputy Leader John Briceno has written a letter to the Party Chairman Francis Fonseca supporting the proposals made by Mark Espat and Cordel Hyde.
A week ago, those two recommended that the number of convention delegates assigned to each division be increased from 1 per every 100 votes, to 1 per every 25 votes. They also asked that the list of delegates be finalized and presented to prospective leadership candidates one week before nomination day.
The letter is signed by the divisional chairpersons and candidates from 6 divisions. Corozal Bay’s standard bearer Vildo Marin did not sign, but his Chairman did. And no one from Corozal Southeast, Florencio Marin Junior’s division, attended. Marin is believed to be firmly in the Fonseca camp.
And while the signed declaration of support clearly bolsters the position and standing of leadership hopefuls Espat and Briceno, the truth is that nomination day is Friday and right now it’s just too late to present the delegates list a week before. But with the declared support of 7 divisions in the north and two in the city – leader hopefuls John Briceno and Mark Espat may think they have more muscle to lean on the executive.
Of course, that would only be the case if they joined up and consolidated their cause, meaning that one would agree to support the other’s quest for leadership. We are told discussions to that effect have been held but at this point it’s not quite clear who would support whom.
But the situation changes it seems almost by the hour. And coming into our newsroom at 6:00 this evening is a release from the Francis Fonseca camp in which details a meeting Fonseca held last night in Corozal. It details that, “after Francis spoke Vildo Marin, Florencio Marin Jr. and Chairman of Valdemar Castillo’s area rose and gave their firm commitment and endorsement to the candidacy of Francis.” That more or less squares with what we received today, except for the Corozal North Chairman – who supposedly gave his commitment last night but also signed today’s Northern Caucus document supporting the Espat and Hyde position.
