2 for JLP, 2 for PNP
Opposition takes Aenon Town and Morant Bay divisions; ruling party victorious in Trelawny Southern and St Andrew North Western by-elections
Published:Saturday | November 23, 2024 | 4:29 AM
The opposition People’s National Party’s (PNP) victories in the Aenon Town and Morant Bay divisions have delivered a blow to the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) just 72 hours before its final conference ahead of the next parliamentary election.
Nonetheless, the JLP is revelling in its triumph in the by-elections for the constituencies of Trelawny Southern and St Andrew North Western.
In Aenon Town in Clarendon Northern, the PNP’s Delroy Dawson, a two-time councillor who the JLP’s Majorie McLeod defeated in February this year, regained the seat for the party, finishing ahead of JLP candidate Suzette Barton by 56 votes, according to the preliminary results from the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ).
McLeod’s death in September triggered the by-election.
The voter turnout in Aenon Town was 46.7 per cent, higher than the 29.6 per cent national turnout for the municipal elections in February.
Those results were followed by the final count in Morant Bay, St Thomas Eastern, where the PNP’s Yvonne Rosemarie Shaw defeated the JLP’s Winston Downie by 118 votes, polling 2,096 to his 1,978. The victory is the seventh for Shaw, a former mayor who has represented both major political parties.
The voter turnout was 37 per cent in the division consistently won by the PNP.
SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT
The win for the PNP comes against the backdrop of significant development in St Thomas in recent years by the Holness administration, which includes the St Thomas leg of the Southern Coastal Highway Improvement Project and the construction of the $6-billion Morant Bay Urban Centre.
PNP President Mark Golding said the party had done the work on the ground to secure the victories, calling it a good day for democracy in Jamaica.
“What this win reflects is that with the benefit of the popular support that we have nationally and the strength of our organisation on the ground and as a united political movement under my leadership, we are unstoppable,” Golding said in Aenon Town.
He accused the JLP of conducting questionable activities in the division, which general secretary of the party Dr Horace Chang has dismissed as mischief.
Golding lamented the absence of a political ombudsman to examine what he described as political misconduct.
Further, he insisted that Prime Minister Andrew Holness announce a date for the general election due next September, arguing that the country needs a change in direction.
That aside, former House Speaker Marisa Dalrymple Philibert dismissed former JLP Councillor Lloyd Gillings, securing 4,146 votes to his 1,434 in Trelawny Southern. Gillings contested as an independent candidate. The PNP did not field a candidate for the by-election.
The victory for Dalrymple Philibert means a fifth term in Gordon House following her resignation in September 2023 over an unfavourable Integrity Commission report. It also validates the JLP’s decision to reselect Dalrymple Philibert as its candidate amid raised eyebrows in some quarters, and a desire by JLP protestors weeks ago to have her return.
The voter turnout in Trelawny Southern was 22.2 per cent.
Similarly, the JLP’s Duane Smith trounced independent candidate and former House Speaker Carl Marshall, albeit in a low-voting by-election, by 1,752 votes in St Andrew North Western. Smith tallied 1,863 votes to the 111 votes secured by Marshall, a former member of parliament who ran on a PNP ticket.
The voter turnout was 6.2 per cent.
Former PNP candidate Rohan Banks, who was expected to contest the election as an independent, withdrew a day before.
He told The Gleaner that he had a conversation with Marshall and both agreed that it was best that only one of them moved forward.
The PNP did not contest the by-election.
Yesterday, Smith said he was satisfied with the victory and getting 95 per cent of the votes.
“The turnout was low but as mentioned several times, it was expected to be low because people in North West St Andrew don’t take by-elections that are being uncontested by any main opposition party seriously,” he said.
‘GAME OF CHANCE’
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Holness told The Gleaner that he has been speaking about improving the level of representation the party gives to the people, noting that it starts with candidate selection and candidate training.
He said the JLP will invest heavily in its representatives’ standard setting. This, he said, will include a code of conduct and technology to improve connection with voters.
Holness said he expected to win all four by-elections but noted that elections are a “game of chance”.
“There is still a certain variability, uncertainty in outcomes but you mitigate that by first of all selecting good candidates.
“We also ensure victory by having good organisation and what we have seen with the Jamaica Labour Party over the last 10 years is that our ability to organise has improved significantly. And I think we are essentially seeing that in the last couple of months that the party is organising and these by-elections are like the heats,” the JLP leader said.