Daraine Luton & Arthur Hall, Gleaner Writers

While the spotlight remains on the race for the top job in People's National Party (PNP) an equally intriguing battle is taking place just below the radar.

Eight persons are vying for the four vice-president posts in a contest that has been just as bitter and divisive as the battle between Portia Simpson Miller and Dr Peter Phillips.

For the delegates, it should be a simple exercise, on Saturday. They will be handed two ballots, one to vote for a president and the other to vote for four vice-presidents.

On the vice-president ballot the delegates are being asked to select the four Comrades who are best suited for the posts.

"If you vote for five the ballot is spoilt, if you vote for three it is spoilt. You must vote for four," PNP Chairman Robert Pickersgill recently reminded delegates.

But like everything else in this PNP contest, it is not that simple.

With battle lines drawn both camps are urging delegates to vote for the four persons backing a presidential contender rather than on the merits of the candidates.

"We were prepared to vote for two of Phillips supporters and two of ours but right now that can't go on," a senior Simpson Miller backer told The Gleaner yesterday.

He was responding to campaign chairman for the Arise and Renew team Fitz Jackson who on Sunday told delegates that the four Phillips supporters would be elected vice presidents.

Surprise

This battle for the vice-president posts has come as a surprise to many in the PNP.

It was initially expected that the contest would have been restricted to the presidential post with no more than six persons nominated for the vice-president posts.

On nomination day the party leadership was obviously stunned as eight persons turned in their papers with their $75,000 nomination fee.

Phillips supporter Harry Douglas was clear that the nominations were based on support for the two presidential candidates.

Douglas told The Gleaner that the Phillips camp responded to the breaching of an agreement by the Simpson Miller team.

"We made the decision to nominate candidates for the vice-president posts because we were not about to let them shaft us or double deal us," Douglas claimed.

But this was denied by several members of the Simpson Miller team including Donald Buchanan.

"I do not understand what he is saying, he had no agreement with the president of the party, he had no agreement with the campaign chairman for Team PNP, he had no agreement with the campaign director," Buchanan told The Gleaner.

Now eight senior members of the PNP wait to see if the delegates will vote on merit or vote based on the presidential candidate they support.