Natalie Takes On Natalie In St Catherine North Central - Incumbent Natalie Neita Of PNP Seeks Fourth Term, As JLP’s Natalie Campbell-Rodriques Confident Of Overturning The Apple Cart

By: Admin

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It will be Natalie versus Natalie when voters go to the polls on September 3.

The People’s National Party’s (PNP) Natalie Neita has dubbed herself #TheNeitaOne, while Natalie Campbell-Rodriques of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has taken the label #TheRealNatalie.

ABOUT THE CANDIDATES

Here are some facts about the two candidates:

Neita

Neita is often invited to sing at weddings, funerals and church services in the constituency. “They have me as part of their families and sometimes I’m not even asked to speak, I’m asked to sing.”

• She loves God;

• Her grandfather, Sydney Douglas, took her to her first political meeting;

• Past student of St Jago High School.

Campbell-Rodriques has lived in four countries, including Rwanda, and moved back to Jamaica in 2019. “I lived abroad for a while, and every single day [I] missed being in Jamaica. I’ve done several things in my lifetime and none feel as comfortable as politics, because I’m very much interested in development.”

• Married and has two daughters;

• Past student of Wolmer’s High School for Girls;

• She once considered bungee jumping and chickened out at “the bitter end”.

Campbell-Rodriques

Campbell-Rodriques takes the reins from government senator Kerensia Morrison, who lost to Neita by 1,306 votes in the 2016 general election. Morrison is now the JLP’s representative for St Catherine North Eastern.

PNP has held a stranglehold on the constituency that changed hands from K.D. Knight to the incumbent Natalie Neita Headley for 31 years.

Between 1998 and 2007, Neita represented Ginger Ridge, and later Lauriston as Parish Councillor.

She was elected Member of Parliament in 2007 for St Catherine East Central when she defeated the JLP’s Leslie Campbell by 1,306 votes.

When the boundaries were redrawn, she was re-elected in 2011 as the representative of the new constituency of St Catherine North Central.

In the contest against the JLP’s Raymoth Notice, she won the seat with a 2,051 vote margin.

The seat was last won by the Jamaica Labour Party in 1983, when the opposition boycotted the polls. With a voter turnout of 28.94 percent, the ruling JLP returned to power with all 60 seats.

judana.murphy@gleanerjm.com