AS the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R)  Nomination Day got underway on Friday, the two main contenders for the leadership post, Leader of the Opposition Joseph Harmon, and party executive Aubrey Norton, were both optimistic about their support and chances of winning.
Speaking with the media, Norton boldly claimed that his ‘intel’ tells him that he has the support of about 80 per cent of the constituting party groups.

Harmon, on the other hand, said, “Fancy gallop don’t win race,” as he declared his confidence of clinching a win.
“At this point, I am supremely confident about the chances of myself and my team. As I go across the country, I feel that level of optimism; I feel that energy,” Harmon said as he spoke with members of the media at the party’s Congress Place headquarters in Sophia.

Harmon pointed out that it has been customary for the leader of the party and leader of the opposition to be one and the same person, and so he is looking forward to maintaining that trend. Armed with a ten- point plan, which he said will focus on the party’s economic state, he expressed belief that he has what it takes to restore unity to the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition.

“I believe that I have the skill to hold this coalition together at this time, and to make it grow. And I think this will make the difference between myself and any other candidate,” he noted.

The PNC/R is the largest political component in the fractured APNU+AFC. The leader of the PNC/R becomes the leader of the coalition.
Meanwhile, Norton said his connection with the party’s base will lead him to victory.

“I think I know more party comrades at a personal level. I will return the party to being a grassroots party, in which the people in the party are in contact with the leadership, and the leadership in contact with the people,” Norton said.

Though both Harmon and Norton are considered the strongest contenders for the leadership position, another executive member, Dr. Richard Van West-Charles, also has a hat in the race. Current leader of the party, former President David Granger, who is said to be on sabbatical, has not been campaigning, and, up to press time, there was no indication that he was among those nominated.

The leadership post is one of 19 other executive positions that party groups were required to submit nominees for. The groups will vote for their choices at the 22nd Biennial Congress slated for December 11. Apart from the leadership position, the electorate will be voting for a chairman, two vice-chairmen, a treasurer, and 15 central executive members.

The party is expected to release the full name of the nominees for the various posts at a later date, following verification of the nominations. At the Congress, each party group will be given one vote per each 10 financial members in the group.

Harmon’s team consists of several Members of Parliament (MPs), including Roysdale Forde, who is Harmon’s choice for Chairman; Annette Ferguson as Vice- Chairman; as well as Dr. Karen Cummings, Geeta Chandan-Edmond, Dawn Hastings-Williams, Coretta McDonald, Natasha Singh-Lewis, Nima Flue-Bess, Dineshwar Jaiprasha, Ronald Cox, Maureen Philadelphia, and Ganesh Mahipaul, who Harmon has endorsed for the General Secretary position.

The General Secretary of the party is appointed and not elected.
Harmon’s team also includes Region Four Regional Chairman, Daniel Seetaram, who has been singled out for the Treasurer position; Region 10 Regional Chairman, Derron Adams; and Mayor of Bartica Gifford Marshall.

Some of the party’s younger MPs, however, have publicly endorsed Norton. These include Region Five MP, Vinceroy Jordan, and Region Two MP, Shurwayne Holder. Holder has also thrown himself into the race for the chairmanship, a post MP Amanza Walton-Desir is also expected to contest.

Meanwhile, despite Norton not naming members of his team, he believes his confidence is rooted in the amount of party groups that have been publicly endorsing him as party leader.

Norton is said to also have the backing of party stalwart, Volda Lawrence, who, according to reports, has been nominated to return to her post as Party Chair.