TOO CLOSE TO CALL: South St James hangs in the balance

Donaldson

Kellier

Published in the Jamaica Gleaner: Tuesday | September 4, 2007

The pendulum of victory in the Southern St. James seat hangs in the balance as the Electoral Office of Jamaica has held off declaring the winner of the constituency.

Reports of a win for the People's National Party's (PNP) Derrick Kellier over Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate Noel Donaldson had surfaced in the media but word came late last night from the returning officer that the nation would have to wait on a recount today.

Kellier, who was the only PNP candidate to halt a clean sweep for the JLP in St. James after the 2002 General Election, has been losing ground in the Southern St. James seat to first-timer Donaldson.

That the race is this tight is not all that surprising for the JLP's Donaldson, who is the sitting mayor of Montego Bay, as several pollsters had predicted that he was on course to upstage Kellier, who has been Member of Parliament since 1989.

At the start of the 2007 campaign, the soft-spoken Kellier, who served as Minister of Labour and Social Security in the last PNP administration, was tipped to retain the seat. However, as the Donaldson train steadily gained traction in several communities, word began to spread that Kellier was in danger of losing the seat.

For Kellier, whose constituency comprises the predominantly farming communities of Cambridge, Welcome Hall, Maroon Town and Catadupa, the writing was probably on the wall from back in 2002 when his usual solid majority was reduced to just over 1,000 votes.

But the fact that the vote is still on a knife's edge attests to Kellier's ability to hang tough.

Will St. James go full green with Donaldson or will the wily campaigner Kellier eke out victory? Time will tell.