Abe Dabdoub, James Robertson and Donald Rhodd
A MASSIVE win for Daryl Vaz in the West Portland by-election could send a wave of Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) dominance into some neighbouring constituencies, the party has said.
James Robertson, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) deputy leader who has responsibility for Area Council 2, told The Sunday Gleaner the party was lining up to spread its dominance across eastern Jamaica.
Area Council 2 covers the parishes of St Catherine, St Thomas, Portland and St Mary.
Robertson said that the upcoming West Portland by-election will be further impetus for the JLP to take political control over seats in that end of the island.
Green wave
"West Portland is going to send the signal and when you visit East Portland, East St Thomas and Central St Mary, you will realise that the green wave, in the east is very strong and is getting stronger," Robertson told The Sunday Gleaner.
March 23 will be a test of that green wave of which Robertson speaks. Daryl Vaz, who won the seat in the 2007 general election, has been ousted from the seat by a ruling by the Court of Appeal which held that he was ineligible to sit in the House because he had pledged allegiance to a foreign power.
Vaz had beaten the People's National Party (PNP) Abe Dabdoub by 944 votes to win the seat which the PNP's Errol Ennis held for 18 unbroken years until September 2007.
Dangling carrot
Meanwhile, Eastern Portland, which the PNP has held since 1989, is a carrot dangling for Labourites. However, Donald Rhodd, who has held the seat since 1997, is unperturbed by moves by the JLP to take aim at his seat.
"I am not worried about the JLP's machinery moving into Portland," Rhodd told The Sunday Gleaner.
The opposition MP said that Vaz may appear to be all over the parish because government has used every occasion for political campaigning.
Using the Portland market truck tragedy as an example, Rhodd said, "it was obvious that certain people in their (JLP's) hierarchy used that as an opportunity for politicking."
Rhodd boasts of a very good organisation in his constituency as well as an average of over 2,000 vote margin in the last two general elections.
Good track record
"I have a very good track record in the constituency, notwithstanding the challenges we face in the upper Rio Grande Valley in respect to a lack of support by successive administrations for road repairs," Rhodd said.
Dr Morais Guy, MP for Central St Mary, said he was aware of a JLP machinery in his constituency that has been set up with a view to unseating him, but warned that it will be a futile attempt in any general election.
"It is very unlikely that they can achieve what they claim they want to achieve," Dr Guy said.
Lost ground
The PNP won Central St Mary by 2,132 votes in the 2007 general election down from 2,856 in the previous election. The party also lost ground in the local government election in 2007, winning only one of the four divisions in the constituency.
In those elections the PNP polled a total of 5,673 votes in the constituency to 4,929 - a majority of 744.
However, JLP operatives have said that the key to winning Central St Mary is taking the PNP strong-hold of Highgate, which has voted 3:1 for the Comrades.
Of the eastern Jamaica seats, the JLP currently hold West St Thomas, West St Mary and South East St Mary. The PNP holds East St Thomas, East Portland and Central St Mary, while West Portland is tiling green and could remain in the JLP's corner after the by-election.