He was elected party leader less than two weeks ago – and John Briceno is already facing a formidable test. We’ve already told you about the old guard’s rejection of his Sunday convention – and until today, that was just talk, hard talk, but nothing more really. But tonight, they have stepped that up – and Briceno faces the very real possibility that the executive he installs on Sunday – could face a challenge for legitimacy from the old guard executive – which it appears, is determined to hold unto to power, at least until Briceno comes to them and asks for its leave.
This morning that old-guard controlled executive convened a meeting at party headquarters, basically behind the party leader’s back. Briceno has indicated that he was not invited to the meeting and only heard about it by accident. There is no Chairman presently, so we gather it was chaired by Secretary General Henry Usher. And in attendance were old guard stars George Price, Vildo Marin, Godfrey Smith, Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Ralph Fonseca, Yasser Musa, and Mike Espat, among others.
The meeting was all about undermining and publicly questioning Briceno’s Sunday convention. And towards that, a press release issued after the session it makes7 declarations. It calls the Sunday convention unconstitutional and irregular and warns that if those duly elected executive members are removed on Sunday, “the national executive reserves its rights to take legal action to challenge the constitutionality of any such convention.”
The executive also criticized the new chairpersons that have been elected for regional caucuses since Briceno took over. It closes by calling for an urgent meeting with Briceno. And, best of all, the release says that the executive adjourned until next week Wednesday, April 16th. That’s funny because by then there will be a new Briceno-friendly executive in place by then; an executive to be elected on Sunday at the same special convention. Which brings us right back to where we started: with intransigence from the old guard, Briceno’s leadership could face the possibility of an entrenched parallel executive.
And, one more thing. For good measure, the old guard also issued a release criticizing Briceno for stating publicly that the party’s assets are privately owned. The release then goes unto explain that, they are, in fact, privately owned. Which is another source of contention because senior members of Briceno’s camp have made it clear that they are willing to publicly discuss fundraising meetings at which funding for Positive Vibes was solicited in the PUP’s name, not in the name of any private individual. All this against the backdrop that at Sunday’s meeting – Briceno’s executive will pass a resolution demanding the return of the party assets and, failing that, launching a grassroots fundraising drive to buy them back.
Ugly infighting, and politically, we’re not sure what it’s all worth for a party still smarting from massive rejection at the polls just two months ago. But, nonetheless, it will continue, and we await a counter-attack from Briceno’s camp. The leader was unavailable for comment today.
