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CONSTITUENCY PROFILES: ST. ELIZABETH NORTH WESTERN
JLP
will win with even bigger majority
Anthony
Myers
Contributor
THE
JLP will retain the North West St. Elizabeth constituency
with a significantly increased majority in the upcoming general
election.
In
1959 as a result of an advancement in the Constitution, 45
constituencies were provided for in Jamaica, an increase of
13 constituencies over the 32 constituencies which had been
fixed from 1944. The parish of St. Elizabeth got two additional
constituencies. The boundaries were redrawn and new constituencies
were created namely - St. Elizabeth North Western, North Eastern,
South Western and South Eastern.
Of
the nine contested Parliamentary General Elections in St.
Elizabeth North Western the JLP won seven times to the PNP's
two. In 1959 the PNP's Gilbert C. Chamberlain defeated Neville
C. Lewis, Independent Labour, by 15 votes in an extremely
close contest. During the period 1962 to 1989 the constituency
was dominated by father and son, Neville C. Lewis and Neville
B. Lewis. Neville C. Lewis (JLP), won in 1962, 1967 and 1972
while his son Neville B. Lewis (JLP), won in 1976, 1980 and
1989.
In
1993 Melford Brown who won the St. Elizabeth South Western
constituency in 1972 and 1976 created history by being the
first PNP candidate to wrestle the St. Elizabeth North Western
seat from the JLP. Neville B. Lewis was defeated for the first
time. Within two years (October 1995) this son of St. Bess
walked away from the JLP leadership to join the newly-formed
National Democratic Movement (NDM) only to retire from representative
politics in 1997. The Lewis political family line continued
in 1997 as Neville B. Lewis's son Toussaint Lewis unsuccessfully
represented the NDM in North West St. Elizabeth. The JLP's
dominance continued as in spite of the ruling PNP winning
the 1997 general election by the third highest margin (50
to 10), William J.C. Hutchinson (JLP), with 50.6% of the accepted
ballots defeated the incumbent Melford S. Brown by 504 votes.
It
is interesting to note that the incumbent William J.C. Hutchinson
(JLP), put an end to the unbeaten run of the legendary Sydney
Pagon when he polled 9,106 voted to wrestle the North East
St. Elizabeth seat from the incumbent Pagon who polled 6,460
votes, in the 1980 general election.
With
no significant increase in this voters' list over the 1997
list, William J.C. Hutchinson will retain the North West St.
Elizabeth constituency for the JLP with a significantly increased
majority.
GENERAL
ELECTION (PARLIAMENTARY) PROJECTION 2002
| E/L
|
16,723
|
| A/B |
12,196(72.9%)
|
| PNP
|
5,421
(44.4%) |
| JLP
|
6,775
(55.6%) |
| Majority
(JLP) |
1,354 |
GENERAL
ELECTIONS (SUMMARY) 1959-1997 ST.
ELIZABETH NORTH WESTERN
| 1959
|
|
| E/L |
14,543 |
| B/C
|
9,323
|
| A/B |
9,215
|
| R/B |
108
|
| Gilbert
C. Chamberlain, PNP |
4,615
|
| Neville
C. Lewis, IL |
4,600
|
| 1962
|
|
| E/L
|
12,670
|
| B/C
|
9,779
|
| A/B
|
9,721
|
| R/B |
58 |
|
Gilbert
C. Chamberlain, PNP
|
4,285
|
| Hubert
S. Largie,IND |
83 |
| Neville
C. Lewis, JLP |
5,353 |
| 1967
|
|
| E/L
|
10,644 |
| B/C
|
8,744
|
| A/B
|
8,688
|
| R/B
|
56
|
|
Gilbert
C. Chamberlain, PNP
|
3,530 |
|
Neville
C. Lewis, JLP
|
5,158
|
| 1972
|
|
| E/L
|
11,389
|
| B/C
|
9,035
|
| A/B
|
8,967
|
| R/B
|
68 |
| Neville
C. Lewis, JLP |
4,639
|
| Norman
E. Watson, PNP |
4,328 |
|
1976
|
|
| E/L
|
13,252 |
| B/C
|
11,451
|
| A/B
|
11,399
|
| R/B |
52 |
| Neville
B. Lewis, JLP |
6,581 |
| Norman
Watson, PNP |
4,818
|
|
1980
|
|
| E/L
|
13,073 |
| B/C
|
11,243 |
| A/B
|
11,187
|
| R/B |
56 |
| Caswell
Daley, PNP |
3,496 |
| Neville
B. Lewis, JLP |
7,691
|
| 1983
|
|
| E/L
|
13,073
|
Neville
B. Lewis, JLP
(elected unopposed by acclamation) |
|
|
1989
|
|
| E/L
|
16,404
|
| B/C
|
12,861
|
| A/B
|
12,767
|
| R/B
|
94
|
| Caswell
Daley, PNP |
6,111
|
| Neville
B. Lewis, JLP |
6,656
|
| 1993
|
|
| E/L
|
15,333 |
| B/C
|
10,382
|
| A/B
|
10,336
|
| R/B
|
46
|
| Melford
Brown, PNP |
5,312
|
| Neville
B. Lewis, JLP |
5,024
|
|
1997
|
|
|
E/L
|
15,994
|
| B/C
|
11,799
(73.8%) |
| A/B
|
11,741
(99.5%) |
| R/B
|
58
( 0.5%) |
| Melford
S. Brown, PNP
|
5,439
(46.3%) |
|
William
J.C. Hutchinson, JLP
|
5,943
(50.6%) |
|
Toussaint
L.C. Lewis, NDM
|
305
( 2.6%) |
|
John
M. Legister, NLP
|
54
(
0.5%)
|
| NOTE: |
|
|
E/L:
|
Electors
on List |
|
B/C:
|
Ballots
Cast |
|
A/B:
|
Accepted Ballots |
| R/B:
|
Rejected
Ballots |
About
This Writer
Anthony
Myers is a statistician and political analyst who has done work
for the Electoral Office of Jamaica and for the People's National
Party. |
