Robertson and BartlettRobertson unseats
Tony Hylton
THE JAMAICA Labour Party's (JLP) James Robertson yesterday took the battleground Western St. Thomas seat from the People's National Party's (PNP), Anthony Hylton.
Mr. Robertson received 8,626 votes to Mr. Hylton's 7,364 votes.
For months leading up to the polls, political pundits have been pointing to the strong possibility of Mr. Hylton, 45, losing the seat which he won in the 1997 general election.
At that time, he defeated the JLP's Dorothy Lightbourne by 468 votes, to capture the constituency.
But from as early last year, there were concerns from within the ranks of the PNP that Mr. Hylton, an attorney-at-law, would lose his seat because of his lack of presence in the constituency.
As Minister of Foreign Trade, he was forced to be out of the country for extended periods and, therefore, did not spend much time in the area. This was recognised by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, who last October shifted him to the Ministry of Mining and Energy to allow more time to concentrate on winning his seat. However, the effort was too late.
James Robertson, who was a JLP Senator in the previous Parliament, won the seat through persistent groundwork in the constituency over several months. At 36, Mr. Robertson will be one of the youngest members of the House of Representatives.
Bartlett conquers Campbell
COLIN CAMPBELL, 47, a former Minister of Information in the P.J. Patterson administration, yesterday failed to win three elections in a row when he was beaten by Dr. St. Aubyn Bartlett of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). Dr. Bartlett received 5,688 votes to 5,048 votes for Mr. Campbell.
Ironically, it was against Bartlett's brother, Edmund, that Campbell first came to prominence when in 1993 he toppled the then Deputy Leader of the JLP to become a first-time Member of Parliament for the People's National Party (PNP) in the Eastern St. Andrew constituency.
He continued his 'giant-killing' ways when in 1997 he turned back Dr. Percival Broderick, then JLP chairman, in a contest he was expected to lose. He has now tasted defeat at the hands of a relative newcomer, Dr. Bartlett, a veterinary surgeon, who was previously best known for his work with race horses at Caymanas Park.
Mr. Campbell had his first brush with politics in 1980 when he worked as Press Secretary to former Prime Minister, the late Michael Manley. A journalist-turned-public relations and advertising executive, Mr. Campbell is expected to return to his advertising firm, Communication Services Limited.
