Fri | Mar 29, 2024

By-election could be announced Friday

Published:Wednesday | February 27, 2019 | 12:00 AMRomario Scott/Gleaner Writer

Having been convinced by the leadership of the party’s Area Council Two that East Portland is ready for a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) wave, Prime Minister Andrew Holness is expected to announce a by-election date on Friday.

Labourites will gather at Port Antonio Square in Portland for a mass rally to officially kick off of what is expected to be an intense political campaign as they aim to wrest the seat from the People’s National Party (PNP).

“We expect the prime minister to call the by-election on Friday. We are confident that the ground is ready and the prime minister will waste no time,” a senior member of the JLP told The Gleaner yesterday evening.

Both JLP General Secretary Dr Horace Chang and Chairman Robert Montague recently said voters would not have to wait long to go to the polls in electing a representative following the murder of Member of Parliament Dr Lynvale Bloomfield.

“Get you shoes, and get ready to work,” Montague told cheering Labourites at the party’s Area Council Two meeting at Titchfield High School in Port Antonio on Sunday.

The JLP fancies its chances at the upcoming poll, having snatched the South East St Mary seat from the PNP in 2017 following the sudden death of Member of Parliament Dr Winston Green.

Still, the party will not have it easy, as the last time constituents were sent to the polls, they gave the PNP a margin of victory of more than 2,000 votes.

This week, the PNP officially announced Damion Crawford as its candidate for the constituency, while the JLP has put forward Ann-Marie Vaz.

romario.scott@gleanerjm.com