Tonight, there is light at the end of a very dark tunnel for the UDP. After years of infighting and outfighting, leadership changes, and lawsuits, the Leadership Executive of the party met today and decided on two things.
One is that an NPC meeting will be held on July 12th - at which those members who were expelled will be reinstated, and at which October 5th will be designated at the date for the party's national convention. The second decision is that the party will hold Special Constituency Conventions in 15 designated constituencies - which do not include the 5 constituencies where there is an elected representative - including those from the Panton faction.
This evening, we spoke with the recently restored chairman, who told us how they arrived at those decisions and what party supporters can expect in the next few months.
Mike Peyrefitte, UDP Chairman
"Part of the conditions for me coming back is having a preset template as to what all the different parties would agree to. So certain things were agreed to. I was given the impression that by the four people, Shyne, Hugo Patt, Alberto August and Tracy Panton, that they had agreed to certain things."
"Last minute, Honorable Panton disagreed with some of the things that I was told she had agreed to, but the template presented was a good template and so I decided that we would let the Central Executive Committee and the National Party Council decide on the template that was given to me."
"So what I did was I called a meeting with the current officials of the party, namely myself, the Vice Chairman, Shyne Barrow, who, Tracy Panton had agreed would be the interim leader of the party going into the next national convention, Omar Figueroa, the regional leader for the West, Aldo Salazar, who is the ethics chair and the legal advisor for the party, and Tony Herrera, the regional leader for the North. Seven of us."
"So I decided to call a meeting with the seven of us this morning to go over what was proposed, what was supposedly agreed by the four principals in the So called dispute. And when we discussed the matter this morning, fleshed it out extensively, we all agreed, the seven of us, the seven leaders of the party agreed that this was the best way for us to go forward. We were glad that unanimously, all seven of us decided we would put these to the Central Executive Committee and then eventually put it to the National Party Council for a meeting on July 12th at 2:30 so that we can set a national convention October 5th."
"And in between that July 12th and October 5th dates, conventions will take place in certain constituencies to make sure that we have a full slate of voters and delegates for the national convention in October 5th."
"So that after October 5th, everybody will be certain as to who is the new leadership of the UDP going forward and then they will be unity. The standard bearers that won't have to face any convention are the ones that won, which is five of them, and the ones for which they were not both a Tracy and a Shyne candidate to put it that way."
He also explained their interpretation of Justice Hondora's judgement, and why it's necessary for the party to vote to reinstate expelled members, such as Tracy Panton.
Mike Peyrefitte, UDP Chairman
"Justice Hondora made it very clear that he believed that Tracy Panton was illegally expelled from the party. But he made it also very clear that for her to return to the party, the party would have to vote her back in."
"Because as a judge, he cannot tell a political party who to accept as its members. Listen, it's not a strange concept in law, you know. It's not an exact parallel, but check the Vybes Cartel situation. He went to the privy council. The privy council said your conviction is quashed. It's set aside. But yet, the privy council said, go to the court of appeal of Jamaica and they will decide if you are to be set free or you are to go through another trial."
"It's not a strange concept in law, both in criminal and civil, for a person to say. You have been illegally removed, but to go back in, those people have to vote for you. Because political parties are not even registered entities."
"We're an association of people. We're not statutory bodies. We're not government entities. We're a loose association of people with a common goal. I, as a judge, can't tell an organization like that who to accept or who to keep."
"It's a matter for them, and we are following that."
