The Kern Spencer/Cuban light bulb affair may yet turn out to be quite a conundrum for the People's National Party (PNP).

Having recently found itself on the less-favoured side of Gordon House for the first time in 18 years, they will hardly want to be complacent in letting the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) entrench itself with a second-term victory. Hence, every seat is critical, given that a swing of a mere four seats was enough to determine the outcome of the last general election.

So, Mr Spencer's extreme popularity on his home turf of North East St Elizabeth, as The Gleaner reported yesterday, represents a vital 'safe seat' in traditionally strong PNP territory.

At the same time, though, the PNP would be well advised not to alienate the wider public with its tendency to dance between the raindrops of expediency rather than doing what is clearly honourable and decent.

For, no matter how this matter of Cuban light bulbs and millions of dollars goes, it will not fade by the time the next general election comes around.

In a country where partisan political allegiances run deep, the reported strong support for Mr Spencer cannot be easily ignored.

So where does that leave the PNP, which The Gleaner, on Thursday, reported as giving Mr Spencer the cold shoulder?

New general secretary of the party, Peter Bunting, was quoted as saying "breaches of procurement procedures, the absence of transparency in the award of contracts and the apparent nepotism involved in the selection of contractors and other personnel, the PNP strongly disapproves of these actions".

While this is not a severing of ties and leaving Mr Spencer up to his own devices, it is about as strong a statement of disapproval as we are likely to get without the actual conclusion of an investigation and assignment of blame in this light bulb saga.

And Mr Bunting's statement that the PNP is "committed to the principles of honesty, integrity, and transparency in dealing with public resources" only serves to reinforce the feeling of a certain distance being created.

However, unlike the flurry of dissatisfaction within the ranks of the PNP's South East St Ann when Lisa Hanna replaced Aloun Assamba, this contrast between the position of the political directorate and that of the electorate on the ground does not come on the cusp of going to the polls.

There is still a long time between now and the figurative flicking of the switch to spark the next general election campaign. But we expect that this light bulb affair will cast its long shadow even until then.

If the current difference of opinion between the political leadership and the constituents holds, what the PNP will do with their North East St Elizabeth candidate will be a balancing act worth watching.

Which will triumph - principle or pragmatism?

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