AS BUNTING ANNOUNCES EXIT ...
Mitchell confident he can win Manchester Central for PNP
Published:Tuesday | May 2, 2023 | 1:14 AMTamara Bailey/Gleaner Writer
MANDEVILLE, Manchester:
Declaring his intention to represent the People’s National Party (PNP) in the next general election, Mandeville Mayor Donovan Mitchell believes he can return the Manchester Central seat to the party’s winning column.
On Sunday, Peter Bunting, who held the seat for three terms before losing to political neophyte Rhoda Crawford in 2020, confirmed at the Bellefield Divisional Conference that he would not be seeking re-election in the constituency.
Crawford had secured 8,097 votes to Bunting’s 7,112.
Responding to suggestions on the ground that the PNP might struggle to take back Manchester Central, Mitchell said the party has bounced back from bigger losses.
“There are no hills too hard to climb. In 1980, the PNP lost about 51 seats and, in 1989, we recovered … . When Portia Simpson Miller ran in South West St Andrew, they never thought she could have won … . When you look at the election results in 2020, it is nothing to write home about,” Mitchell argued.
“If you look at the worst year over the best year, the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) would have dropped 1,917 votes and the PNP would have dropped over 3,000. But what the PNP dropped the JLP didn’t gain … . In 2020, thousands of PNP supporters didn’t go out and vote and we have the internal data to show why, … but people are upbeat now and they have now seen what the JLP Government can do. I am stepping up to the plate and I will win,” he said confidently.
After bouts of ill-health and seeming incongruity with political colleagues, Mitchell had indicated plans to hang up his political boots on more than one occasion. However, he said that after consultations with the right people, he is ready to serve at another level.
“I don’t know anything else in life but politics and church … . Persons have been calling me – family, friends, communities, students I have assisted to go to college – and they have been saying to me why don’t I [run]. I have consulted with my family, [and] my healthcare professionals to make sure that I am OK, and everything seems OK. I don’t think at this time I would want to turn my back on the people of Central Manchester and the PNP,” Mitchell told The Gleaner.
NO PATTY SHOP
“I am not perturbed about elections. When Peter Bunting came in 2007, Sally Porteous was about 18 points ahead of him and we did what we had to do and won the elections. We have done it before and we will do it again. The PNP is the greatest political movement in the Caribbean and the Latin Americas. This is no patty shop,” emphasised Mitchell, who has more than 20 years of experience as a councillor and who served as campaign manager in the constituency.
PNP’s Region Five Chairman Kern Spencer confirmed that Mitchell is now the only applicant for the seat.
“He (Mitchell) would have already faced the Regional Appraisal Committee,” Spencer informed. “Thereafter, he would face the Integrity Commission. Thereafter, a poll will be done on the seat to find out the viability of the candidate, and then there will be a yes/no vote from the delegates within the constituency,” Spencer explained.
Despite a recent Don Anderson Poll showing 28.1 per cent of the population in favour of the PNP, compared to 27.9 per cent in favour of the JLP, Spencer said the party has been strategically identifying and addressing the internal and external shortcomings.
“One of the things I recognised after becoming regional chairman 18 months ago is that there seems to have been a relaxation of the rigid political organisation that existed. After winning the seat for so long, I recognised that some people would have become complacent. We have been strategically putting things back in place,” he said.
Spencer added that there has been renewed interest in the party from “heavy-hitters” who want to represent the party in the local government and general elections.
“We have a slate of divisional candidates that are second to none. The constituencies are also ready. We have been organising in a systematic and strategic way over the last 18 months … . I am seeing a renewed energy on the ground and the numbers are showing at the political events.”