Where the west goes ...

By: editorial@gleanerjm.com

Image caption: People’s National Party supporters in Montego Bay, St James, having a whale of a time last Thursday during nomination day activities for the local government polls.

WESTERN BUREAU:

JLP, PNP target western MCs in high-stakes polls

Western Jamaica will be solidly under the microscope for the February 26 lcoal government elections, as the popular sentiment over recent years is that “where the west goes, the rest goes”.

Based on the results of the last local government elections in 2016, the ruling Andrew Holness-led Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) holds sway in the region, having handily won St James (13-4), Trelawny (6-3), St Elizabeth (9-6), and making up significant grounds in Westmoreland and Hanover, which they loss 5-9, and 4-3, respectively, rebounding from the clean sweep they suffered in 2012.

Based on the leadership of the two main political parties in the region, there is much optimism on both sides, as while the JLP is touting what it says has been a massive investment in infrastructure, the People’s National Party (PNP) is arguing that the representation has been woeful and requires its brand of leadership, which centres around PNP President Mark Golding’s vision for Jamaica.

ST JAMES
In St James, where the JLP overturned the 13-4 majority the PNP secured in 2012, sweeping the parish by the same margin, an interesting battle looms. The PNP lost two of its councillors – Sylvan Reid of the Salt Spring division, and Gladstone Bell of the Catadupa division, who were both expelled from the St James Municipal Corporation (StJMC) for breaching the municipality’s attendance requirement – but the party says it has recalibrated its machinery and is ready to reclaim control.

“We are ready to retake the StJMC … . We have several seats locked. We are a confident team going into this election,” former deputy mayor Michael Troupe, the PNP’s minority leader in the StJMC, told The Sunday Gleaner.

“We are confident that we will keep the Salt Spring and Catadupa seats. We are very excited about Somerton, where we have an excellent candidate in Michael Allen,” he added.

However, J.C. Hutchinson, who heads the JLP’s Area 4, which covers the western parishes, says he is eyeing a clean sweep of the west, which would include taking Hanover and Westmoreland.

HANOVER
In Hanover, where the PNP saw its 5-1 majority in 2012 coming under threat in 2016, when it just scraped through 4-3, a tough battle is anticipated. The PNP says it is looking to regain former strongholds such as Chester Castle and Hopewell.

Dave Brown, the JLP member of parliament (MP) for Hanover Eastern, is hoping his party will take majority control of the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC).

“Winning the HMC will help me to better implement and manage projects that we are undertaking … . I am confident that we will take the HMC, which will strengthen our hand in terms of getting more projects done,” Brown told The Sunday Gleaner.

WESTMORELAND
Westmoreland, which has been dominated by the PNP dating back several decades, lost significant ground to the JLP for the first time in 2016, when a PNP 14-0 sweep in 2012 was trimmed to a 9-5 majority in 2016. Since then, the party has seen two of its councillors defecting to the JLP, while another is operating as an independent.

Former Savanna-la-Mar Deputy Mayor Ian Myles, who won the Little London division on the PNP ticket in 2016, is now the JLP standard-bearer in the same division. He is not only contending that he will win his seat, but thinks the JLP will take control of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation.

“I am a tried and proven representative of the people. I have served them well, and wherever I go, they will follow,” said a confident Myles.

ST ELIZABETH
Like Myles, the JLP camp in St Elizabeth, which suffered a humbling 14-0 trashing in 2012 but rebounded to take the parish’s municipal body by a 9-6 margin in 2016, is flushed with confidence. According to Hutchinson, in addition to those they now have, they will be targeting divisions like Ipswich and Siloah, which he is certain the party can win.

However, the PNP, which has been rebuilding its machinery in the parish, is hoping to spring a major surprise in the hope of blunting the JLP’s confidence.

According to Kern Spencer, who heads the PNP’s Region Five, the party has been meticulous in its selection of candidates and believes it has the ideal persons to earn the respect and support of the electors.

“We have prepared well, and we are ready,” said Spencer, noting that the JLP has fallen short in its representation in the parish.

“We have a good team that will represent the people well.”

TRELAWNY
In Trelawny, another interesting battle is looming. In the north, where the JLP currently holds three of the five seats, the PNP appears quite energetic, under the leadership of Dennis Meadows, who switched allegiance from the JLP after the last general election.

In the south, the JLP appears to be holding sway as former MP Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert seems keen on adding Ulster Spring to the other three divisions the party now holds.