 |
| |
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTION WATCH - Both parties confident of victory in St Mary (11/30/2007)
By Devon Evans: Gleaner Writer
Members of the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) in St. Mary say they are almost sure that they will retake the St. Mary Parish Council in the upcoming local government elections.
Having lost the council in the 2003 election by a very slim margin, some key party spokesmen claimed that the loss was by default and that the party would be pulling out all the stops to ensure its candidates are in the majority this time around.
The ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), on the other hand, is determined to hold on to what was once regarded as a PNP enclave and its candidates have been busily campaigning in their various divisions in order to retain their seats.
jlp took control in ’03.
In the 2003 Local Government elections, the JLP took control of the St. Mary Parish Council after winning seven of the 13 divisions. The Boscobel division was won for the first time by a JLP candidate when Michael Belnavis defeated the PNP’s incumbent councillor Michael Lawton by 69 votes.
In the Port Maria division, which was a usually safe PNP seat, differences in the PNP camp resulted in two of the party’s members contesting the election in that division. One candidate ran on the party’s official ticket and the other as an independent candidate, which effectively resulted in the splitting of the PNP vote, giving the JLP’s Fitzmaurice Gray the victory.
In the Annotto Bay division, the votes were tied at the end of the official count and both the PNP candidate, Patrick White, and the JLP candidate, Hugh Bryan, had to rely on the toss of a coin to determine who got the seat. Bryan was victorious. ‘Can Bryan hold on this time around?’ is the question some political pundits are asking.
Optimism
These three divisions are the ones which most likely will determine which party will control the St. Mary Parish Council after the December 5 election. But, despite the optimism in the PNP camp, the JLP said they too are optimistic of another victory.
In fact, one of the candidates, the JLP’s Michael Belnavis, said he has no intention of giving up the Boscobel division.
According to Belnavis, the work he has done in the division since 2003 will not only assure him of a victory, but will also give him an increased majority.
He said the Annotto Bay division in South East St. Mary will also remain with the JLP, based on the recent victory by Tarn Peralto over the PNP’s Harry Douglas.
While admitting that Port Maria in Central St. Mary is very challenging, Belnavis said the level of leadership which the incumbent JLP candidate Fitzmaurice Gray has brought to the division should be enough to take him safely home.
Return To JLP
In addition to those divisions, Belnavis said both the Retreat division and the Oracabessa division in Western St. Mary, which were won by the PNP in 2003, will return JLP councillors this time around.
He pointed out that the decisive victory by former councillor, Bobby Montague, over PNP heavyweight Delano Franklyn, was a clear indication that the JLP was fully in charge of this constituency. In the 2003 election, the JLP’s Murdel McKenzie lost by only 28 votes to the PNP’s Leon Francis.
In Oracabessa, the PNP incumbent, Donald Sutherland, defeated the JLP candidate, Monica Costley, by a margin of 676 votes. Sutherland has retired and the new PNP candidate is minister of religion Bruce Farrell.
The JLP has replaced Costley with another female candidate in the form of businesswoman Racquel Broderick. This will definitely be an interesting contest and, according to Belnavis, Broderick has an opportunity to replace the many years of non-performance by Sutherland.
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
