Omar Anderson, Gleaner WriterA MAJORITY of Jamai-cans believe the current leadership race in the People's National Party (PNP) is healthy for the party, according to a recent survey.
PNP vice-presidents Portia Simpson Miller, Dr. Peter Phillips and Dr. Karl Blythe, along with region three chairman Dr. Omar Davies, and party chairman Robert Pickersgill are all vying to succeed P.J. Patterson as party president and prime minister. According to a Gleaner-commissioned Don Anderson poll, 63.7 per cent of 1,000 persons polled between February 3 and 11 believe the PNP leadership race will be a good thing for the party.
This compares to 32.4 per cent who believe the opposite. Some 3.9 per cent said they didn't have a view.
In contrast, the poll noted that the internal wranglings within the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leadership, which climaxed in a court action more than three months ago, was generally seen as a negative thing for the party.
HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT
The finding of the poll, which was conducted prior to the selection of Bruce Golding as JLP leader, adds credence to a popular view that the JLP is disunited.
"The extent to which this point is driven home is indicated in the finding from the poll which shows the same persons feel that the fact there are five declared candidates for the position of leader within the PNP is really a healthy development," Anderson reasoned.
A total of 74 per cent of persons likely to vote for the PNP share the view that the five-man race was a good thing, while 60.7 per cent of those likely to vote for the JLP concurred.
LEADERSHIP OPTIONS
Asked to indicate why they felt this was a good thing for the PNP, 69.1 per cent felt this clearly demonstrated the party has leadership options.
Another 12 per cent said they respected the need for change and did not see any problem with key aspirants making themselves available for the top job.
Meanwhile, those who viewed it as a bad thing to have five contenders advanced two main reasons.
In the first place, 42.6 per cent said it was nonsensical to have five persons running for office, while 35 per cent felt this showed some level of disagreement among the contenders.
The overall poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 per cent.
