By Vernon Daley, Staff Reporter
Cardenas
JUST DAYS before it names its first batch of candidates for the next general election, the United People's Party (UPP) is vowing that it will not make the same mistakes other third parties have made in the past.
Betty Ann Blaine, vice president, said the party was keen to take its message to the people directly so it could better explain its policies and programmes.
"Our people recognise that you can't win an election in the media. Our strategy is to go door to door," she said, noting that the party was working hard at the grassroots to build support.
One of the major criticisms of the now limping National Democratic Movement, is that it concentrated too much on using the media to connect with the public rather concentrate a sustained on-the-ground campaign.
Recently, members of the UPP executive journeyed to New York, where they took the message of a new kind of politics to the Jamaican community there. Mrs. Blaine said the party also managed to raise "a couple hundred thousand dollars," during the trip. She, however, declined to be specific about the sum.
The UPP which is headed by lawyer and former radio talk show host, Antonnette Haughton-Cardenas, was launched in August this year. It says its mission is to bring unity to a country which has been ripped apart by tribal political warring.
During this week, the party is expected to present at least 20 candidates who will stand for the general election, which must be held by March 2003. Mrs. Blaine said that there is an even split between male and female candidates in the party's line-up.
The UPP vice president added that the party has taken the decision to go slow with the selection of candidates to ensure that it makes the right choices.
"We want to be careful about who represents the party and therefore selecting the candidates would take longer than the other parties," she said.
