How the west was won (and lost)

WESTERN BUREAU:

On the face of it, it was a case of ‘as you were’ after this week’s local government elections in western Jamaica as the major parties ended up with control over the same municipalities they held going into Monday – a 3-2 split in favour of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

At the end of the preliminary count, at least five divisions were deemed too close to call – two in St Elizabeth, one in St James, one in Trelawny, and one in Westmoreland.

However, those results are unlikely to impact the control of the municipality. Minus the undecided divisions, the overall seat count shows the opposition People’s National Party (PNP) with 102 western seats and the ruling JLP 98. Based on the wider national results, it would appear the west has lived up to the adage, ‘where the west goes, the rest goes’.

In Westmoreland, where the PNP struggled with internal conflict – which resulted in the defection of three councillors, two to JLP and one as an independent candidate – the party rebounded strongly from their massive defeat in the 2020 general election, which saw them moving from having all three constituencies to losing all three.

“We are feeling extremely happy, excited and grateful,” said Dwayne Vaz, the former PNP member of parliament for Westmoreland Central, who lost his seat in the 2020 general election. “Based on the work we’ve put in, we knew we had a chance to win all five divisions, and so far, we have won four, and are anxiously awaiting the result in the Cornwall Mountain division, which has not been declared.”

It should be noted that Ian Myles (Little London) and Garfield James (Sheffield), two of the PNP defectors, are the only victorious JLP candidates in the parish to date, which leaves the balance of power in the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation firmly in the grasp of the PNP.

In Hanover, the PNP was ruthless, upgrading its close 4-3 margin to a resounding 6-1, which gave them back control of the Hanover Municipal Corporation. In bowing to defeat, the JLP’s lost its two prized seats – the Hopewell division, where Devon Brown, the outgoing JLP minority leader suffered defeat; and the Lucea division, where Easton Edwards lost to his PNP challenger.

‘NOT SURPRISED’

“I am not surprised at all. We knew it would have been so because we put in the work that we knew would give us this result,” said Sheridan Samuels, who served as mayor in the last HMC administration. “We know we had two tough divisions that would require extra, and it was the extra work that gave us both of them…the Hopewell division and the Lucea division.”

In St Elizabeth, the words of J.C. Hutchinson, the confident JLP Area Four leader, proved prophetic as his party took back the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation by the same 9-6 margin with which they had entered the contest. They lost the Brompton division, but offset the loss by winning the Ipswich division, which Hutchinson was adamant they would have won.

“We are a little bit disappointed that we did not take back the Brompton seat, but we are absolutely delighted that we took the Ipswich division,” said Hutchinson, who is also the member of parliament for St Elizabeth North Western. “I am particularly pleased that we won Ipswich because it means that all the divisions in my constituency are now under JLP control.”

The defeat that the PNP’s Mugabe Kilimanjaro suffered to the JLP’s Kenroy Samuels in the Ipswich division was a double blow for him as in addition to losing the seat, it now raises questions as to whether he will be able to regroup sufficiently to mount a credible challenge to Hutchinson, who he is poised to challenge in the next general election.

St James, the hub of the nation’s tourism, is back in the hands of the JLP, which has won nine of the 16 seats that have been decided to date. The Salt Spring division, which the PNP won in 2016, is still undecided.

While it was a good day for the JLP since it retained control of the St James Municipal Corporation, it was not all smooth sailing as it lost three seats – the Somerton division in Edmund Bartlett’s East Central St James constituency, where the PNP’s Michael Allen emerged victorious; the Welcome division, where Martin Kellier won for the PNP; and in Maroon Town, where Anthony Swaby notched victory for the PNP.

In Trelawny, the JLP lost the Duncans division but seized control of the Ulster Spring division, which was enough to give them a 5-4 majority in the municipal corporation. In Trelawny South, the JLP took Ulster Spring, Albert Town, and the Lorrimers divisions, while in Trelawny North, the PNP won three divisions and the JLP bagged one.

The Warsop division, which was won by Collen Gager – mayor of Falmouth in the last administration – was undecided at the end of the preliminary count.

adrian.frater@gleanerjm.com