ALL ears and eyes were directed at successive meetings of internal committees of the ruling party secretariat right from its Ethics committee, the Central Committee and the National Executive Committee.

One feature about the list of parliamentary contestants it issued is that the party stands above individuals of whatever level of fame or recognition.

The party also seeks to build bridges between various sections of the party’s rank and file, at times over the din of what members want at the preliminary candidate selection level, known as primaries.

It has been seen time and again that his can be done, and often it yields surprising recruits for opposition parties.

So it can be said that the party’s new-look leadership, as the secretariat was also overhauled with the secretary general now standing as presidential poll running mate – reflects a wide range of anxieties and demands from the population. 

Wide-ranging satisfaction will likely be felt in most areas as the party’s leadership had signalled from the start on the wish to respect preferential votes in final outcomes, where the matter stood well at the constituency level, though not as much at the national level.

Usually, decisions at the highest level are the premise on which one can speak of standards to express a view on what happened.

So, instead of the party breaching a rule about preferential votes having to prevail in the final outcome, it creates exceptions in relation to what may touch on its own wider interests – to keep cohesion in place and the need for strict loyalty.

Dissent disperses loyalties and makes it more difficult for the leadership to guide, as it can’t be conducted in a diminished beehive environment with raised voices in different constituencies.

The current issuing of nomination lists and altering of the party secretariat was less of a scaled reshuffle than its conclusion, as tremors already took place in the party at the conclusion of the just-dissolved legislature.

There have been voices disputing some of the decisions and results – which comes as no surprise under the prevailing circumstances.

 There have also been vocal interventions on the country’s direction – or the way it is branding itself – which went beyond the border as activists from near and far came into the row, with those holding office definitely winning that round of shadow boxing.

While on the whole the top leadership won the benefit of doubt in wide-ranging disputes in the political arena and the media, a measure of reconciliation will certainly come in handy during the polls and the manner of outcome.

This will be the test of intent of reconciliation even as it will not have yielded much on the negotiating table, and analysts would understandably argue that extra efforts will be needed to ease tensions and possibly heal some wounds during the entire run-up to the upcoming General Election and well beyond.