Bennett tipped to get NDM's top post

Bennett

EDUCATOR, Hyacinth Bennett, is being tipped to become the first woman in Jamaica's history to lead a major political party when the National Democratic Movement elects a new president today.

Mrs. Bennett is seen by NDM sources and political observers outside the party as the top contender for the position being left vacant by Bruce Golding.

More than 2,000 delegates are expected to vote in the elections at the NDM's national conference at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston. They will also vote for four vice-presidents.

But barring a political U-turn by Mr. Golding, by withdrawing his decision to step down as president, Mrs. Bennett, observers said, should defeat Clinton Wilson, a Clarendon businessman.

According to Mrs. Bennett, the country's political landscape will be boosted by a female leader.

"The political process could very well benefit from a woman's imagination, her maturity, compassion, her sense of process, her connectedness to reality and the people's reality and of course, her sheer brain power which has been demonstrated in so many other spheres of life," Mrs. Bennett told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday.

Going into today's election, Mrs. Bennett is only the second woman to challenge for the leadership of a political party in the last decade. The first was current People's National Party (PNP) Vice President Portia Simpson Miller, who challenged and lost to current Prime Minister P.J. Patterson in 1992.

The position for president of the NDM became vacant when Mr. Golding decided to quit the top NDM post after the party suffered a humiliating defeat in the Northeast St. Ann by-election in early March. The seat was made vacant after the PNP's Danny Melville resigned as Member of Parliament late last year. It was won by the Jamaica Labour Party's Shahine Robinson.

Sunday Gleaner checks last week with NDM members and other officials showed that although they did not believe the presidential race would be a walk-over today, they did expect Mrs. Bennett to win.

Former Montego Bay Mayor Shallman Scott, believes that her win will provide "cosmetic excitement."

"I expect she will win. There will be excitement at the novelty of being the first woman to be elected president," Mr. Scott added. "But whether she has the capacity to manage the party and secure funding, which is critical to every political party, and what Bruce Golding was unable to do, is another matter."

E.V.

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