P.U.P. to hold City Council convention

While many will spend this Sunday decorating their homes or making other preparations for the holidays, the People’s United Party will hold a convention to select their slate of candidates for the City Council elections in March. Incumbent Mayor Marshall Nuñez and Councilor David Fonseca intend to face off for the Mayoral nomination, while two of the current councilors, Merilyn Young and Danny Madrid, will make a bid to retain their posts. Sources at City Hall say the others who plan to contest are relative newcomers who will first test the political waters on Sunday. The decision will be made by thirty representatives from each of the city’s ten constituencies who will select eight candidates for councilor and one for Mayor. While the People’s United Party is expected to choose its entire slate of candidates by the end of the convention, United Democratic Party officials say they are taking their time and do not expect to have their candidates until the end of January. According to U.D.P. Secretary General Audrey Wallace the party is reviewing the new City Council bill very carefully. She says the U.D.P. questions the supposed advantages of electing a mayor separately rather than having the City Council select one and she says the party finds it very inconsistent that the upcoming term is four years, while subsequent ones are three. As for the identities of potential U.D.P. candidates neither Wallace nor party leader Dean Barrow would offer any early suggestions. Word on the street is that defeated Fort George candidate and former City Manager Derek Aikman may be interested in the mayor’s job.