(Jamaica Gleaner) After prayer and consultation with her constituency, Lisa Hanna today made her intention to contend for president of the People’s National Party (PNP) official.
Her declaration was made after the National Executive Council (NEC) announced the time line for the elections on November 7. She said she did not want to declare her intent to run before the NEC outlined its plans.
Hanna, the member of parliament for South East St. Ann, where she’s been MP since 2007, leads her closest contender, Mark Golding, MP for St Andrew Southern in both external and internal polls as the favourite to replace Dr Peter Phillips as president.
A leaked poll conducted by pollster Don Anderson that was published in yesterday’s Sunday Gleaner shows that among the 14 PNP MPs, 34 per cent of respondents believe Hanna, Miss World 1993, is best suited to lead the PNP. Golding was eight percentage points behind, followed by the outgoing general-secretary, Julian Robinson (14 per cent), Phillip Paulwell, vice-president and MP for Kingston East (five per cent), and Mikael Phillips, MP for Manchester North Western and son of Dr Phillips (2 per cent).
Hanna’s lead widened among respondents who identified themselves as PNP delegates, 43 per cent of whom wanted to see her rise to lead the party compared to 21 per cent for Golding.
Hanna, who represents a constituency normally seen as safe seat for the PNP, narrowly retained her seat by 32 votes.
