The Progressive Labour Party’s annual general conference, which features a vote for the leadership of the party, will take place over the next few days.

PLP members begin three days of debate tonight, with the battle for the party leadership decided in a vote by party delegates and MPs tomorrow.

David Burt is facing a challenge to be PLP leader, and by extension the Premier, from the former finance minister he fell out with last spring, Curtis Dickinson.

Some 122 delegates selected by individual PLP branches, along with the party’s 30 MPs will decide the winner.

It will be the same format to elect the deputy leader, as former national security minister Renée Ming has challenged Walter Roban for the post.

If Mr Dickinson beats Mr Burt, a letter will be dispatched to Government House and Rena Lalgie, the Governor, would swear him in as premier on Friday morning.

Both candidates have expressed confidence about winning, but the media, and non-PLP members of the public, are excluded from the conference at St Paul AME Church Centennial Hall tomorrow when the result is due to be declared.

On the opening night of the 57th AGC, tributes will be paid to, among others, backbencher Zane DeSilva, who was found not guilty in Supreme Court yesterday of charges relating to a party held in contravention of government restrictions during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The leadership votes will take place tomorrow, and on Friday, the emphasis will concentrate on internal PLP matters.

Mr Dickinson quit the Cabinet just days before he was due to deliver the February Budget after repeated clashes with the Premier over the scale of taxpayer-funded sweeteners to Gencom, the developer behind the $376 million refurbishment of the Fairmont Southampton hotel.

The pair held a head-to-head debate in front of party members last weekend, when Mr Burt played up his opponent’s past as a Wall Street banker, and Mr Dickinson said that Bermudians were now worse off than five years ago under the Premier’s leadership.