Cruising to victory - PNP to romp home in two Corporate Area by-elections
Published:Sunday | October 29, 2017 | 12:00 AMEdmond Campbell
It might not appear to be the case since there have been no mass meetings, no radio and television advertising, and no wild charges and counter-charges, but voters in St Andrew South West and St Andrew South will go to the polls today to elect their new parliamentary representatives.
The resignations of former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, as member of parliament for St Andrew South West, and Dr Omar Davies from St Andrew South on April 2, 2017, created two vacant seats in the Lower House.
With the People's National Party (PNP) enjoying huge electoral victories in both constituencies for decades, it would take a miracle for the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) to even have a slight chance of scoring a win in either constituency today.
Highlighting the uphill task the candidates of the JLP face, Dr Horace Chang, general secretary of the party, is on record as saying the PNP is in a race against itself in its two Corporate Area political strongholds.
In the 2016 general election, the PNP won St Andrew South West with 92 per cent of the votes, which converted to 10,792 compared to the JLP's 702.
In St Andrew South, the PNP picked up 87.2 per cent of the votes against the JLP's 11.3 per cent, which meant that 9,431 electors cast ballots for the then incumbent Omar Davies, while the JLP received 1,220 votes.
In St Andrew South, the PNP's Mark Golding will go up against the JLP's Dane Dennis, while the JLP's Victor Hyde will face off with the PNP's Angela Brown Burke in St Andrew South West.