Corbin wins PNCR leadership

-amid claims of irregularities
Incumbent Robert Corbin was re-elected leader of the PNCR last evening, following polls at the party’s 16th Biennial Congress that were attended by numerous claims of irregularities.

Robert Corbin
Robert Corbin

Corbin won overwhelmingly, securing 614 votes to the 223 that were cast for his sole challenger Winston Murray, who accepted the results but stated that he was disappointed and would need time to reflect on his future. “Yes, I am prepared to accept the results,” he said shortly after the announcement, explaining “Because the margin is so wide, that even if there were – as I believe there were – flaws in the process and irregularities in the procedures, it is clear that Mr Corbin would have won.”

In a brief statement, Corbin said he was grateful to God and thankful to the people for displaying confidence in him. “I would much prefer to speak a bit later when the entire elections are over because this is not about one person, this is about the team and about the PNCR coming out the winner,” he declared.

The announcement of Corbin’s victory triggered cheers among a small crowd of his supporters, while groups of other persons who were disappointed filed out of Congress Place. In the vote for leader, 847 votes were cast from an official list of 1175 delegates.

Up to press time, the voting process for other party offices, including Chairman and Vice-Chairman, was still underway. Earlier, Corbin’s supporters directed delegates to vote for party stalwart Cammie Ramsaroop as Chairman of the party, and Basil Williams and Dr George Norton for the two Vice-Chairman posts.

Murray demurred on the question of his own future, adding that he did not want to sound a sore loser since, “As of now I remain a member of the PNCR,” as of now, I remain a Member of Parliament and I will have to take time to contemplate [my political future], it is not something I would be rushed into,” he said, adding later, “I have to allow some time to pass, let the dust settle and then determine where I go.”

He thanked his supporters for their work, saying “I really, really appreciate it but we didn’t pull it off,” while they thanked him for his candidacy and his conduct throughout the process.

Winston Murray
Winston Murray

While Murray emphasised that he did not want to take issue public with the results, he noted the claims by his supporters that one region in particular turned in very inflated membership. One of his major backers, Dr Richard Van West-Charles, who bowed out of the race for leader to support Murray, noted that concerns about some of the flaws in the procedures had gone unanswered, adding that it could have been more efficient to guard against problems during registration and the voting.

Voting began nearly five hours after the scheduled start owing to problems during the registration of delegates, which had first been manifested on the days before the official opening.

There were numerous claims of disenfranchisement during and after registration for delegates yesterday, including by many members from hinterland regions 1, 7 and 9, who were only allowed to attend as observers rather than delegates. Similar complaints were made by persons from other regions as well.

Tempers flared between Corbin and Murray’s supporters in front of the registration centre at the start of the day, as persons lined up to collect their delegate and observer ID cards. The arrival of a contingent of Corbin supporters from regions 4 and 5, who were bussed in, led to confusion as people claimed that ID cards were being handed out in wads before any of them completed their registration. According to the official guidelines for the registration, persons were supposed to go to the centre and sign to uplift cards.

Stabroek News observed some persons handing over what appeared to be delegate cards to others outside the registration centre, even as automatic delegates complained that their names were not on the official register. Among those who were not recognised as delegates was PNCR MP Judith Blair, who should have been an automatic delegate. However, she was told that her name was not on the delegates’ list. A national candidate for the party, GTUC President Gillian Burton, was also supposed to be an automatic delegate but her name was not on the list and she was later accredited as a delegate belonging to the Agricola group.

One man showed this newspaper a delegate card for a person whom he claimed was dead. He explained that he was told at the registration centre that his name was not on the list of delegates and after calling a regional representative he was then given a card with someone else’s name.

The card appeared to be an official delegates’ card with both an identification number as well as the signature of Convenor of the Accreditation Committee Lance Carberry.

Later, during the voting process, several persons expressed concern that multiple voting occurred and even before the ballots were counted large groups of people filed out of Congress Place.