Samuda, two political newcomers to face off in Sept 30 by-election in NE St Ann

Three candidates were nominated yesterday to contest the September 30 by-election in St Ann North Eastern.

The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate, Matthew Samuda, who is seeking to replace his colleague, former Member of Parliament Marsha Smith, whose resignation necessitated the election, will be up against two relative newcomers, neither representing the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP).

When returning officer Rupert Brown signed off at 2:00 p.m., the official list of nominees read: Matthew Samuda, JLP; Chase Albert Neil, United Independents Congress (UIC); and David Fritz Anderson, independent.

Yesterday, a JLP team including Prime Minister Andrew Holness, the party’s leader, and his wife, Juliet Holness, Edmund Bartlett, Robert Montague, and Fayval Williams, among others, lent their support to Samuda during the nomination process.

Fritz Anderson was the first to be nominated in the morning, arriving with a handful of supporters, enough to ensure his nomination.

A confident-sounding Anderson admitted that he was on the brink of representing the PNP in local government elections in the past before discontinuing the process.

He said he was on a different mission now.

“I’m not here on PNP business. I am on people’s business, so where I was doesn’t have anything to do with what I’m doing now because wherever I am, I’ve always been a champion for people, not for a party,” he said.

Samuda, who was the second to be nominated, arrived with his entourage some time after one o’clock.

“Today is about the new phase of the journey of the development of North East St Ann, and we look forward to the next phase,” Samuda told reporters after his nomination process was completed.

“We expect to be victorious, and I am eager to get started with the work. I’ll make myself available to the media periodically for many other discussions as we share plans and programmes. We’ll be discussing plans, programmes, and the route to prosperity, peace, and productivity.”

Neil, an educator, had arrived at the nomination venue in the morning but left, only to return to process his nomination just before the two o’clock deadline

“There are constituencies such as Trelawny Southern that is not represented in Parliament, so this by-election is a slap in the face of the electorate who don’t have any representative. So the UIC has decided to give the people of North East St Ann a voice,” Neil told reporters.

Both the ruling JLP and the Opposition PNP have shared North East St Ann over the past five decades.

The PNP dominated proceedings from 1972 up to the turn of the century, except for 1980 and when the party boycotted the 1993 polls.

A by-election in 2001 saw the late Shahine Robinson (JLP) wrest the seat from the PNP, holding it over the next four general elections – 2002, 2007, 2011, 2016 – until her death in May 2020. Smith won the seat for the JLP in the September 2020 general election.

The next general election is constitutionally due in September 2025.

editorial@gleanerjm.com