Mark & Cordel want more democratic convention

After staying out of the headlines for a couple of weeks, tonight PUP area representatives and former ministers Mark Espat and Cordel Hyde have weighed in with their opinions on this weekend’s national convention. In a joint release from the Lake Independence and Albert committees entitled, “A Call for Greater Democracy”, Espat and Hyde say they’ve got a beef with the constitutional foundation of the party and are offering suggestions on how to improve the system by the next convention, scheduled to be held in November 2007. According to the area reps, as it stands now, while the convention has the nominal power to make important decisions, the real strength lies with the National Party Council, a body of only one hundred and seventy-one delegates. They would like to see more power in the hands of the six hundred and forty convention delegates. And that’s not all. If Mark and Cordel had their way, that six hundred and forty delegates, which represents one conventioneer for every one hundred PUP votes, would be expanded to twenty-five delegates for every hundred votes. It’s a great vote of confidence in direct democracy but where would you hold the convention with over thirteen thousand delegates?

Both Hyde and Espat were unavailable for interviews with News 5 today. According to their release the positions being contested this Sunday are those of the deputy national campaign manager, public relations chief and two deputy leader spots. That race remains wide open with six candidates in the running: Johnny Briceño, Vildo Marin, Godfrey Smith, Joe Coye, Sylvia Flores and Mike Espat. It is not clear who, if any, the two former ministers are supporting.