The People's National Party (PNP) has pushed back the deadline for objections to the voters' list which will be used to elect a president and four vice-presidents on September 20.

A draft voters' list with just under 4,600 delegates was completed last Wednesday and sent to all candidates. They were given until Sunday, August 31, to register any objection to the list.

But Deputy General Secretary of the PNP Julian Robinson said the schedule had to be revised because of Tropical Storm Gustav, which ravaged the island last week.

"We will have to give them a few more days until later this week," Robinson told The Gleaner yesterday.

However, this will not impact on the election date which will be the highlight of the party's 70th annual conference.

The creation of the voters' list has been marred by controversy with allegations of vote buying, intimidation and fraud surrounding the registration of delegates.

Verbal battle

The situation boiled over into a verbal battle and near physical clash two weeks ago at the party's Old Hope Road headquarters as supporters of President Portia Simpson Miller and challenger Dr Peter Phillips squared off.

After much haggling, the party's secretariat settled on a draft voters' list which contains approximately 15 per cent more delegates than were registered to vote when the party last elected a president in February 2006.

But the increase in delegate count was no surprise to political watchers who had reported a rush by persons in the PNP to register new groups.

Each active PNP group is allowed to register one or two delegates to vote in the party's internal elections.