By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

DEMOCRATIC National Alliance Leader Branville McCartney on Friday brushed off the "haters" as he defended the party's convention against claims of low attendance.

Mr McCartney said he and his team were "pumped" by the number of people who attended the first night of the two-day event, supporting one member's estimate that some 650 persons were drawn to the ballroom at the Super Club Breezes resort on Thursday evening.

He pointed out that despite the convention's late start, the ballroom and foyer were filled to standing room capacity.

"I'm very excited, it's very encouraging," Mr McCartney said. "From the delegates in the early sessions to the persons last night who attended. We're very excited, very pumped as a result of that. It's laying the foundation for us moving into the general election."

He added: "I saw some. Of course we have some persons on Facebook saying otherwise, but I'm extremely happy."

On Thursday, all of the party’s leadership team was successfully returned to office without challenge.

Mr McCartney, who has been unchallenged as leader since the party was formed in 2011, said it was clear that its members were happy with his leadership.

The party made several changes to its constitution during Friday's sessions. Most notable were amendments to strengthen the provision for term limits and another to make it mandatory for each constituency to have a Young Democrat delegate.

The latter initiative, according to Mr McCartney, elevated the status of younger members and spoke to the party's commitment to fully engage the youth in national development.

Acknowledging the sizeable number of young persons that made up the party, he said: "We have a very young party, I'm probably in the old set so to speak.

"We do have senior persons in the party but for the most part the party is made up of young people. They are on the executive, they have high ranking positions in the congress. The Young Democrats, they've been very significant in bringing policies."

A motion was also raised for the creation of a recall system of non-performing party officers, an internal policy that will likely shape the party's plans to implement a similar procedure for non-performing parliamentarians if elected to government.