Pryce eyes return to Parliament
Published:Thursday | July 23, 2020 | 12:05 AMRomario Scott/Gleaner Writer
A shower of late Sunday afternoon rain did not deter the almost two dozen People’s National Party (PNP) workers in St Catherine East Central as they canvassed voters on the weekend for the upcoming polls.
Led by the PNP’s new man in the constituency, Raymond Pryce, who is expected to battle at the polls with Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) Alando Terrelonge, the Comrades, clad in bright orange, moved from door to door in their quest to identify voters.
Pryce, who had served as secretary for the PNP’s Region Four, which covers St Catherine and Clarendon, told The Gleaner that he was familiar with the grounds in the constituency.
Having been booted from North East St Elizabeth under controversial circumstances and failed in his bid to be the PNP’s chairman in Central Kingston, Pryce, who up until weeks ago was in charge of communication in the party, replaced Dr Winston De La Haye, who turned his back on the seat in April, citing fears for his life.
Pryce said that Dr Alfred Dawes will be steering the campaign to oust Terrelonge from the seat.
“The reception is generally and genuinely positive,” he said as The Gleaner caught up with him in Hamilton Gardens on Sunday. “That now needs to be converted into electoral success.”
Pryce believes that his four-year stint as MP in St Elizabeth North East as well as his media profile will help him to chip away at the t492-vote margin by which the JLP won St Catherine East central in 2016.
He is, however, concerned about the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic could have on the upcoming polls. He told The Gleaner that he fears that some people who may want to vote could end up not casting ballots unless changes are made to existing laws and policy.
“The Gregory Park Primary School, for example, will have a cluster of polling divisions. The numbers have been increased to 280 for public gatherings. The Representation of the People’s Act specifies a radius for a polling station, which [should] achieve sterile conditions for the polling stations.
“Most polling stations are in a classroom. When you have a cluster of 15 or more polling stations with probably 400 or more voters per polling division within the polling station, six-feet-apart protocols, if everything that is required to observe COVID protocols is applied on election day, the line from Gregory Park Primary School could reach the Gregory Park Police Station (approximately one kilometre),” he added.
Unless changes are made to extend the time allowed to cast ballots, Pryce said, some voters could be turned off from the process.