A legal dispute over who can vote for a new leader of the Progressive Labour Party will be held in Supreme Court in early October.

The hearing will come after one of the contenders secured an interim injunction against party membership changes alleged to run contrary to its constitution.

Puisne Judge Shade Subair Williams noted “widespread public interest” in the contest between former finance minister Curtis Dickinson and Jason Hayward, the Minister of Economy and Labour, to lead the ruling party.

She set the matter for October 1 and 2 during a civil court direction hearing this morning.

The issue arose after David Burt, PLP leader and Premier, put forward a proposal on August 24 to stop people who publicly campaigned against the party in the past two general elections from automatically joining the party.

It is understood his addendum was agreed by the PLP central committee, along with a proposal requiring people to have been party members for at least a year to become eligible to serve as delegates in the party leadership election scheduled for the final week of October.

Mr Dickinson opposed the changes, arguing that they went against the party’s constitution.

His lawyer, Delroy Duncan KC, obtained an interim injunction to stop them going into effect last Friday in the Supreme Court.

The injunction was filed against Dawn Simmons, the chairwoman of the PLP, and Patricia Basden, the party’s secretary-general.

Mark Pettingill, a former One Bermuda Alliance MP and attorney-general, is representing Ms Simmons and Ms Basden.

Mr Dickinson was named as plaintiff with Shea-tai Maurice Smith, Sheila Mareen Brown, Winifred Rose Stevens and Jay-Lee Maurice Smith.

During the hearing today, which lasted several minutes, Mr Duncan said the case “is about the constitutional interpretation” of the PLP charter.

A special delegates conference of the PLP is expected to be held on Monday to ratify actions taken by its central committee on August 24.

However, after Mrs Justice Williams handed down a variation order on the matter, Mr Duncan offered no comment when asked about its potential implications for the conference.

Neither Mr Hayward nor Mr Dickinson were in court, but Ms Simmons attended with Zane DeSilva, the Deputy Premier and Minister of Housing and Municipalities, and PLP senators Lauren Hayward Bell and Lindsay Simmons attended.

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