The committee to elect John Briceno as PUP leader has issued a stormy press release, telling the party leader to come correct, and quick. The fuss is over the decision to release the names of the delegates two weeks before the leadership convention. That decision was announced yesterday and today Briceno’s release calls it contrary to the party constitution. The release also calls out Francis Fonseca for lacking commitment to change and reform and, “deliberate disregard for the message of March 7th.” But aside from the fulmination, the real point of the release is the question of the ratio of delegates. Briceno – and many other divisions have asked for it to be increased from 1 delegate per 100 voters to 1 delegate per 25. They say it’s about fair play but the party status quo says its about special interest.
Well, Brinceo’s release points to the fact that the party’s constitution ahs been changed just for those reasons before when it was convenient to expand the number of Deputy Leader from two to three. The release states that the changes to the party’s constitution should be made by the end of this month, which is Friday of this week. We’ll wait and see but it is widely believed that of the demands are not met, Briceno and Espat will pull out of the race and plausibly claim victimization by a party hierarchy that is unresponsive to the call of a majority of constituencies.
