By Erica James-King, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE JAMAICA Labour Party (JLP) has been assessing how it failed to take home the only seat in Westmoreland which the party stood a strong chance of winning - Westmoreland West.
With the return of Russell Hammond to the JLP, frustration of the residents over repeated flooding due to poor drainage problems and the overall resurgence of support for the JLP in the constituency, political pundits had predicted the seat to be a battleground that could swing either way. However, the People's National Party's (PNP) Dr. Wykeham McNeill returned to winning ways on Wednesday, when he took home the seat for a second time with a substantial margin of victory.
Preliminary counts showed 8,584 for Dr. McNeill and 5,294 for Mr. Patrick Atkinson.
According to Mr. Atkinson, he was cognisant that the low voter turn out contributed to the defeat, but he was at a loss to explain what factors would have put such a heavy dent into his path to Parliament.
Mr. Atkinson told The Gleaner in an interview: "Something is very wrong, because the polling for the JLP does not reflect the trend that we saw and heard on the ground in the constituency. We will spend the week looking intensely at these factors."
The JLP candidate contends that even though the heavy rains put a damper on some of the turnout at the poll, that could not be blamed solely for the low voter turnout.
"We have heard rumours that people were being paid huge sums by a certain party, to prevent them from voting for the JLP, and we need to look closely at those reports. We can't comment on the matter at this time."
Still, there is another reason that might have hurt the chances of the JLP in Wednesday's general election.
Russell Hammond, seasoned politician who switched allegiance from the National Democratic Movement (NDM) and returned to the JLP recently, is expressing regret that the late timing of his defection might have hurt the chances of Labourites in West-moreland Western. He feels that there might not have been enough time for some NDM supporters in the parish to contemplate the rationale for his move and follow suit in joining the ranks of the JLP.
"The lateness of my own re-entry or support to the JLP, might not have given them enough chance to understand the sincerity and the reason for my doing so. Probably, out of doubt, the NDM supporters withheld themselves from the poll and from supporting the JLP. As a result, I suspect JLP only got a small portion of the NDM vote in Western Westmoreland," Mr. Hammond told The Gleaner.
Mr. Hammond also concedes that the JLP's mobilisation machinery on the ground was not adequately prepared for the election and the rains compounded the problem.
"I also believe that the difference between the last election and this one, was a large one and we were hoping that things would be done by the party mobilisation machinery, but did not succeed."
Political historian and analyst Troy Caine points to one consideration that might have factored in the elections. He argued that the strong McNeill family ties in politics in the parish might have stacked the odds against Mr. Atkinson.
Even though Atkinson is from Westmoreland, "he was seen as an outsider by some residents, since Atkinson was out of the island and out of the realm of politics for quite a while," stated Mr. Caine.
Dr. McNeill is one of a few PNP incumbents who retained their seats with almost the same majority as in 1997.
Dr. McNeill believes he pulled off victory because of his party's superb mobilisation skills in that section of Westmoreland.
"If I had to say that there was one thing that was the determining factor, the team that surrounded me, my Councillors, my campaign manager...that team and the organisation was critical in the election, both in the period leading up to election and later during the campaign," Dr. McNeill disclosed in an interview.
"The campaign was very energetic and the team was crucial in the feedback in terms of running the constituency and during the campaign which was a well run campaign," he added.
