Only Sept 3 Poll Counts, Say PNP Supporters In St Andrew Eastern

By: Admin

Image caption: Rudolph Brown From left: Kemar Demon and Romario James, who live in the same house, show their political unity in colours at the Standpipe community in St Andrew Eastern.

People’s National Party (PNP) supporters from St Andrew Eastern say that they are not perturbed by the results of the latest Gleaner-commissioned Don Anderson poll of 300 registered voters in the constituency which showed incumbent Fayval Williams outpacing her challenger, the PNP’s Venesha Phillips.

The Comrades told The Gleaner that the votes registered on September 3 will reflect the “true poll”, as Jamaicans prepare to vote in a general election on that day.

The latest polls show that 45.3 per cent of the electorate in St Andrew Eastern will vote for Williams, a 13 percentage point lead over Phillips, who had 32.3 per cent.

The constituency is made up of two divisions, Mona and Papine.

When our news team went to the Back Bush community in Mountain View yesterday, some Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters told The Gleaner that they were not taking comfort in the polls.

A man clad in green said, “Even though the poll a say that, the poll can tell lie to. Cause even inna dem lane ya, people a say dem nah vote. So right now people can say weh dem want say, the seat can still lose. Can’t take it for granted cause PNP want it.”

The resident said the roads and water supply have been improved but not everyone will be voting for the same things.

“What really happen is that you see during corona, whole heap a little packages them give out and you see one set of people a give out nah give to the right people that should get it. So you have some people a say dem nah vote. We jus a hope fi the best fi her,” the resident said of an alleged rift over the issue.

There were other residents in the community who said the polls were a true reflection of the reality.

“The polls is a reality, it’s not a complete reflection because they can’t capture everybody but the sentiments throughout the constituency is the same, there is no reason not to return her as MP. Venesha is trying her best, she is doing what she needs to do ...” the resident said.

Phillips is the two-term councillor for the Papine division, but even there, according to the latest poll, she is trailing Williams.

When the Gleaner news team went to Stand Pipe, the camaraderie between supporters of both political parties was evident.

Romario James told The Gleaner that the results of the latest poll did not bother him.

“On the day counts. In ya suh orange lead; Mona and dem place deh a dat dem say. In here is like a handful of green. If you drive from the front come in what do you see? (Orange flags).”

When The Gleaner entered the August Town community, orange and green flags and other party paraphernalia littered light poles signifying support for both political parties.

Pan chicken vendor Prince Mills told The Gleaner that he had not seen the Don Anderson poll.

“People can say what they want to say but on the ground it’s a totally different thing … I don’t know who said she (Williams) is leading, but on the wide perspective of people, we don’t see her. Venesha is more on the ground.”

He said the representation by Williams is not wide scale.

“When you talking about political, you should represent the people on a wide scale not zonal, or to say you stop right here so because you see the colours right here so,” Mills argued.

Williams prevailed in the 2016 general election defeating then PNP candidate André Hylton by 161 votes.

There was a 55.16 percentage voter turnout from the constituency which had 26,041 electors on the voters’ list.