#JaVotes2020 | JLP’s Jodian Myrie Wants To Unseat Phillips

By: Admin

Image caption:

Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter

In what would be a historic win by any newcomer vying for a seat in Gordon House, Jodian Myrie, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate for St Andrew East Central, says she intends to stop President of the People's National Party Dr Peter Phillips in his tracks at the polls on September 3.

Myrie told reporters earlier today that she has been encouraged by the support she has received in the constituency to date.

"I do look forward to shocking you," Myrie told The Gleaner when asked if she could send Phillips packing.

The JLP MP aspirant is not perturbed by Phillips' status as PNP president and neither is she mindful that she lost her bid to become councillor for the Hagley Park division in the 2016 local government elections.

"I am far more confident, far more experienced than I was in 2016 and I believe that the people have got a lot more time to see me in a light of leadership," she said.

Myrie said she plans to pull off a historic win, breaking the stranglehold of the PNP since 1967 when the seat was created.

Yanique Warren, a former schoolmate of Myrie, said she is a big supporter and friend of the JLP standard-bearer.

She described Myrie as a "friendly and easy to talk to, easy to get along with" kind of person.

Warren has no doubt that Myrie will end Phillips' long run as incumbent on September 3.

The Gleaner spoke with the former JLP candidate for St Andrew East Central, Beverley Prince, who showed up at the nomination centre at the Tarrant Baptist Church on Molynes Road in St Andrew to drum up support for Myrie.

Prince said that Myrie stood a fifty-fifty chance of wresting the seat from Phillips.

"I am confident that with the amount of energy that we are getting throughout the divisions, especially in the Cassia Park division, we are seeing a lot of people coming on board. Persons who have supported the PNP the last time have come over and joined our team, so that is a push for us," she said.

Myrie arrived at the nomination centre about midday with scores of JLP supporters.

This was accentuated by heavy beats from party songs bellowing a victorious outcome for the JLP on September 3 when Jamaicans go to the polls to vote in general elections.

With temperature checks and hand sanitisation out of the way, Myrie and her 10 witnesses entered the nomination centre.

Her $15,000 deposit for nomination was tendered in $5,000 notes bearing the image of Hugh Lawson Shearer, Jamaica's third prime minister.

At the end of the process, Myrie put up the 'V' sign of the JLP, receiving the nod of approval from her team.

Her return to join party supporters was met with the playing of the JLP's anthem.

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