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CONSTITUENCY
PROFILES:- WESTMORELAND EASTERN
Runner-up position for JLP
Anthony
Myers
Contributor
THE
JLP will have to settle for the runner-up position in the
upcoming general election in Westmoreland Eastern.
Thirty-two
constituents were fixed in the new constitution granted to
Jamaica in 1944. Westmoreland Eastern was among the 32 as
the parish was divided into Eastern and Western.
Of
the 12 contested Parliamentary General Elections 1944 to 1997,
Westmoreland Eastern featured in seven. This is due to the
Constituencies (Boundaries) Order 1966, made by the Governor-General,
under Section 67 of the Constitution of Jamaica which came
into operation on January 3, 1967, increasing the number of
constituencies from 45 to 53. The parish of Westmoreland was
given two additional constituencies bringing the total number
to four.
The
boundaries were redrawn with the constituencies renamed -
Westmoreland Western, Central, North Eastern, South Eastern.
It was not until the 1992 boundaries realignment that the
number of constituencies was reduced from four to three with
three new constituencies created - Westmoreland Western, Central
and Eastern. With no significant increase in the voting population
since 1944 (25.3%) to warrant four constituencies, a decision
was taken to reduce the number of seats by one and increase
the number of seats in St. Catherine from eight to nine. The
voting population of St. Catherine moved significantly from
44,329 in 1944 to 149,746 (237.8% increase) in 1992.
Six
of the seven Parliamentary General Elections in Westmoreland
Eastern, 1949, 1955, 1959, 1962, 1993 and 1997, were won by
the PNP. The 1944 election was won by Fred. L.B. Evans who
ran as an Independent. By polling 3,725 votes (32.6% of A/B)
F.L.B. Evans defeated the JLP candidate John O. Ramsay by
727 votes. There were four other Independent candidates whose
total support surpassed that of F.L.B Evans (4,706 -41.2%
of A/B).
In
1949 F.L.B. Evans running on the PNP ticket devastated his
four opponents by polling 9,208 votes (71.8%) to 2,524 (19.7%)
for his nearest rival E.W. Wakeland (JLP). In 1955 Maxwell
S. Carey who replaced F.L.B. Evans as the PNP candidate put
his seven opponents "to the sword" by polling 6,395
votes (52% of A/B). The JLP candidate Winston B. Williams
polled a mere 984 votes (8% of A/B).
The
story is told that F.L.B. Evans shifted from Westmoreland
Eastern to contest the Westmoreland Western constituency in
1955 after having advised the incumbent Clifford C. Campbell
(JLP), of his intended conquest of the Western Westmoreland
seat. Having won the Western Westmoreland seat in 1944 by
a massive 8,590 majority over Gilbert Mitchell (IND). and
annihilated his PNP opponent Walter James Tomlinson in 1949
by a majority of 6,827, Clifford Campbell scoffed at the challenge.
History records that F.L.B. Evans carried out his "western
design" on January 12, 1955. By polling 11,087 votes
he defeated by 2,079, Clifford Campbell who polled 9,008,
a most remarkable feat. Maxwell Carey continued the shutout
of the JLP in Westmoreland Eastern by winning the seat in
1959 and 1962 with large majorities.
In
1993 Percival James Patterson (PNP), polled 8,468 votes to
2,708 for Stafford Earle (JLP), a majority of 5,760. In 1997
the voters' list increased by 1,977 (10.9%) over the 1993
list. The incumbent once again defeated his JLP opponent by
a landslide polling 9,874 votes to 3,733 for Daniel Dawes
(JLP), and a mere 174 for the NDM candidate Steadman Roache.
So for the seventh time the JLP challenge in Westmoreland
Eastern proved futile. It is interesting to note that Westmoreland
Eastern is the only constituency created in Jamaica since
1944 where the JLP has never had a Parliament representative.
With no significant increase in the current voters' list a
mere 725 (3.4%) the JLP will have to settle for the runner-up
position. The problem is, there is no prize for coming second
in a race of this nature.
General
Elections (Summary) 1944 - 1997 Westmoreland Eastern
| 1944 |
|
| E/L
|
21,477 |
| B/C
|
12,862
|
| A/B |
11,429
|
| R/B |
1,433
|
| Fred
L.B. Evans, IND |
3,725
|
| Walter
Malton O'Meally, IND |
1,124 |
| Sydney
George Phillip, IND |
422 |
| John
O. Ramsay, JLP |
2,998
|
| Maurice
Hugh Segre, IND |
1,966 |
| Astley
S. Yates, IND |
1,194
|
| |
|
| 1949 |
|
| E/L
|
21,
555 |
| B/C
|
13,
376 |
| A/B |
12,
818 |
| R/B |
588
|
| Fred
L.B. Evans, PNP |
9,208 |
| John
O. Ramsay, IND |
372 |
| Leturn
E. Scott, IND |
465
|
| E.W.
Wakeland, JLP |
2,524 |
| Winston
B. Williams, AIP |
249 |
| 1955 |
|
| E/L
|
21,746
|
| B/C
|
13,164
|
| A/B |
12,296
|
| R/B |
238
|
| A.M
Barker, IND |
474 |
| M.S.
Carey, PNP |
6,395
|
| A.L
Evans, IND |
208
|
| G.E
Foster, IND |
105 |
| C.A.
Johnston, IND |
934
|
| C.W.
Swaby, IND |
1,655
|
| Winston
B. Williams, JLP |
984 |
| E.W.
Wakeland, FP |
2,171
|
| 1959 |
|
| E/L
|
17,548
|
| B/C
|
10,739 |
| A/B |
10,603 |
| R/B |
588
|
| Maxwell
S. Carey, PNP |
7,460 |
| Fred
L.B. Evans, JIM |
115 |
| Muchell
L. Pinnock, JLP |
3,028 |
| 1962 |
|
| E/L
|
16,134
|
| B/C
|
10,467
|
| A/B |
10,379
|
| R/B |
88
|
| Winford
G. Brown, JLP |
3,939
|
| Maxwell
S. Carey, PNP |
6,240 |
| George
L. Wiggan, PPP |
200
|
| 1993 |
|
| E/L
|
18,172 |
| B/C
|
11,241
|
| A/B |
11,176
|
| R/B |
65 |
| Stafford
Earle, JLP |
2,708
|
| Percival
J. Patterson, PNP |
8,468
|
| 1997 |
|
| E/L |
20,149
|
| B/C |
13,919
(69.1%) |
| A/B |
13,781
(99.0%) |
| R/B |
138
(1.0%) |
| PJ
Patterson, PNP |
9,874
(71.6%) |
| Daniel
Dawes, JLP |
3,733
(27.1%) |
| Steadman
Roache, NDM |
174
(1.3%) |
| NOTE: |
|
| E/L:
|
Electors
on List |
| B/C: |
Ballots
Cast |
| A/B: |
Accepted
Ballots |
| R/B: |
Rejected
Ballots |
| |
|
| |
|
GENERAL
ELECTION (PARLIAMENTARY) PROJECTION 2002
2002
| E/L
|
20,874 |
| A/B |
14,286
(68.4%) |
| PNP
|
9,542
(66.8%) |
| JLP
|
4,744
(33.2%) |
| Majority
(PNP) |
4,798 |
Youthful
and competitive candidates for West Central St. Andrew, sitting
MP Andrew Holness (left) of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP)
and Patrick Roberts of the People's National Party (PNP),
caught in a discussion in the front row seats at Wednesday
night's opening of Emancipation Park in New Kingston.
About
This Writer
Anthony
Myers is a statistician and political analyst who has done work
for the Electoral Office of Jamaica and for the
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