Progressive Labour Party MPs, many of whom had hoped for a different outcome to Friday’s leadership selection contest, have declared their support for new leader Marc Bean.But the exercise has raised some concerns about the party’s Constitution.Mr Bean was elected by a landslide at Friday’s special delegates conference — winning 111 votes against Terry Lister’s 35 votes.The election was made necessary because then Party Leader Paula Cox lost her seat in parliament in Monday’s general election.According to the PLP Constitution the leader must be an MP and a replacement must be elected within seven days should the top job become vacant.Mr Bean will now serve out the rest of what would have been Ms Cox’s term as leader — the party’s next scheduled opportunity to select a leader is October 2014.A total of seven MPs were nominated on Friday but five declined.Walton Brown, who was voted into the House of Assembly for the first time on Monday night, said the constitutionally imposed seven day deadline to select a new leader should be reviewed, as it was too short a time for delegates and potential candidates to consider their positions.He would not confirm reports that he was one of the seven nominees.Friday’s conference was meant to be a joint session of the delegates and the parliamentarians, but delegates were incensed when they found that the MPs had met separately on Tuesday to hammer out a common position.But three MPs — Mr Roban, Mr Bean and Mr Weeks — are said to have abstained.Besides Mr Bean, Mr Brown and Mr Lister, delegates also nominated Rolfe Commissiong, former Attorney General Kim Wilson and former Minister of Public Works Michael Weeks.The delegates began asking questions after five of their nominees declined.Some were heard demanding an immediate revision of the party constitution, but that was turned down by the chair who said that proposals for change had to go through a constitution review committee.However, the parliamentary group’s support of the leader is critical when the party holds the Government, as the Bermuda Constitution stipulates that the Governor appoints as Premier the MP who commands majority support in parliament.In 2003, hours after Dame Jennifer Smith led the party to its second victory at the polls, 11 of the 22 winning MPs made it clear she did not have their support.The holdouts forced a special delegates conference which instructed the parliamentary group to meet among themselves and report back.The rebel MPs had hoped that Dr Ewart Brown would take over the leadership, but the delegates were having none of it.The crisis was resolved when Dame Jennifer and then Deputy Leader Eugene Cox agreed to step down, paving the way for Alex Scott and Ewart Brown to be elected Leader and Deputy Leader respectively.Two and a half years later at a scheduled leadership conference, Mr Scott failed in his bid to be re-elected — with Dr Brown winning by a landslide.Ms Wilson told this newspaper on Friday night that she declined the nomination because she wanted to focus on her constituents.Yesterday, Mr Commissiong said he did not think he had enough experience as a legislator to assume the leadership position.“I was flattered in getting nominated. However, I did not think it would have been fair to me or the party in accepting it, in that while I have been around for a long time I have never been in Parliament before and I cannot even claim experience of being in the Senate,” Mr Commissiong said.“I’m going in as a total rookie. I just felt that option was too premature for me.”Mr Commissiong added: “I’m fully prepared to serve the new leader and the party.”Mr Brown would only say that he was “pleased with the outcome”.“It was a very clear decision by the delegates and MPs about who we want to have as our leader,” he said.“And in Mr Bean we have a bright and dynamic parliamentary leader.”Former Health Minister Zane DeSilva said : “It’s a good choice and it will certainly bode well for us going forward.”Mr Bean, he added, has “a good cross appeal to many sections of our community” and had been “involved at the grassroots level.”“What people will soon find is that Marc is nobody’s fool. Marc is a smart, young man. The experience he’s had throughout his life will bode well for the party.”As to the tension between the parliamentarians and the delegates, Mr DeSilva said tension at PLP meetings is par for the course.“We have a very vociferous membership,” he said. “They call a spade a spade.”Asked about Tuesday’s parliamentary group meeting, Mr DeSilva said the leadership was one of the issues discussed in the wake of the general election.“We discussed it thoroughly and agreed a proposal to put to the delegates — but it never materialised.”He said: “The delegates ultimately make all the decisions especially as to the leader and deputy leadership of the party.”Mr DeSilva said he had been urged to put his name forward in the lead up to Friday night’s meeting but he chose not to.“I don’t know if the party is ready for Zane to be leader yet,” he said.“Even if the party were ready, it would have to be an absolutely overwhelming call for me to be leader. And I would want a few more years under my belt if I ever make that move.”Mr Bean, he said, had the support of the parliamentary group.“I think we are in a good space considering we lost the election. There’s an energy building, we realise we made some mistakes over the election and the last few years. We lost touch with some of our people and the people have spoken.”Mr Bean first entered parliament just two years ago when he won the by-election to replace former Premier Ewart Brown as the Warwick South Central MP. Less than a year later he was appointed Environment Minister by then Premier Paula Cox.But he was brought into the legislature by Dr Brown who had appointed him a Senator in the summer of 2008.Now its Mr Bean’s turn to make appointments — his first order of business is to select a shadow Cabinet to go up against the OBA’s 13 member team.A qualified air traffic control specialist, Mr Bean attended flight school in the US and has a commercial pilot’s license.He served on the Bermuda Independence Commission, the Telecommunications Commission, the Public Transportation Board, The Public Vehicle Service Licensing Board, the Air Transport Licensing Board, and as the Deputy-Chairman of the West End Development Company.In 2006, he received the Queens Certificate and Badge of Honour.He has worked for the Department of Marine and Ports, and as the Recruitment and Enrolment Manager for the Mirrors programme.He was also appointed the Government’s advisor on CARICOM Affairs. He is recently married and has two children.