Dinky Balcombe takes off his running shoes

Cameron ‘Dinky’ Balcombe, who had been named as the New Democratic Party’s (NDP) candidate for the North Central Windward (NCW) constituency has resigned as candidate for the NDP in NCW.{{more}}

Opposition Leader, Arnhim Eustace while not offering much, told SEARCHLIGHT on Monday, September 27 that Balcombe had “tendered his resignation.”

“The letter was a very gracious letter and that is as far as I know,” Eustace continued.

He further explained that the North Central Windward constituency group was now in the process of selecting a new candidate to face off against Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves.

The latest development comes in the wake of protests and calls for Balcombe to step down as the NDP candidate for that constituency.

In the August 27, 2010 edition of SEARCHLIGHT, we reported that four constituents had journeyed into Kingstown on August 26 to demonstrate Balcombe’s candidacy for the North Central Windward seat.

That action came after the Opposition Leader had refuted claims that Balcombe was no longer going to be the candidate. In that article, Eustace was quoted as saying that “no one had taken a decision on that.”

However the article went on to indicate that all was not well and that many had openly expressed their dissatisfaction with Balcombe being the NCW candidate.

More recently, Newton George, Public Relations Officer (PRO) for the NDP NCW council published a letter in SEARCHLIGHT of September 21 indicating that Balcombe did not attend two scheduled tribunal meetings on September 2 and 8 by using what he termed “delay tactics.”

The letter also indicated that the council had already identified alternative candidates and that the people of the constituency were looking for “a candidate who we can sit down with and formulate a constituency plan that may spill off to a National plan.”

Balcombe first contested the North Central Windward constituency in the 2005 general elections.(DD)