South East St Mary--- Dr Winston Green (PNP) Vs Dr Norman Dunn (JLP)

By: Daraine Luton

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For 40 years, the eastern St Mary area was Ross territory, and its flag was green. After it was first won in 1944 by Roy Lindo, an independent candidate, Andrew Ross came in 1949 and held the seat for 18 years before passing the baton directly to his son, Alva.

By 1967, the constituency was renamed South Eastern St Mary and Ross secured victory after victory, after victory, until 1989 when he the PNP's Harry Douglas arrived on the scene.

Alva won four elections between 1967 and 1980, and was unopposed in 1983. But when he returned to the voters in 1989, he was booted and Douglas became the first PNP candidate to be voted in as Member of Parliament in the constituency.

The voters disaffection with Ross was reconfirmed in the 1993 polls when he again rejected.

Douglas began building up a PNP dynasty, beating Don Creary (1997) and Tarn Peralto (2002) along the way.

But it was Peralto who had the last laugh, sending Douglas into retirement in 2007 after getting home by 34 votes. However, the JLP's revival in the constituency was short-lived as the voters in 2011 gave the PNP's Dr Winston Green the nod over Richard Creary.

Creary has since stepped back, making way for Dr Norman Dunn as the JLP's candidate in the upcoming polls.

The constituency has four divisions - Richmond, Annotto Bay, Belfield and Castleton.

Richmond and Castleton vote heavily for the JLP, while Annotto Bay and Belfield are considered PNP territory, based on voting history.

There are 24,517 persons registered to vote in South East St Mary.

Winning Margin

1967 - JLP's Alva Ross over PNP's Lincoln Hart by 1,276

1972 - JLP's Alva Ross over PNP's Keith Bailey by 1,627

1976 - JLP's Alva Ross over PNP's Keith Bailey by 851

1980 - JLP's Alva Ross over PNP's Derrick Webb by 1,514

1983 - JLP's Alva Ross (unopposed)

1989 - PNP's Harry Douglas over JLP's Alva Ross by1,073

1993 - PNP's Harry Douglas over JLP's Alva Ross by 413

1997 - PNP's Harry Douglas over JLP's Don Creary by 1,494

2002 - PNP's Harry Douglas over JLP's Tarn Peralto by 385

2007 - JLP's Tarn Peralto over PNP's Harry Douglas by 34

2011 - PNP's Dr Winston Green over JLP's Richard Creary by 420