THE BY-ELECTION of a Member of Parliament for the Eastern Westmoreland constituency, recently vacated by former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, will be held on June 7.
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller made the announcement during a post-
budget press briefing at Jamaica House yesterday.
Responding to cautions from the Opposition not to use public funds to heighten its chances of winning an election, the Prime Minister said her Government had no intention of using public monies to win at the polls.
"So all who were shouting election, I am going to demonstrate that we are going to be victorious in this election without spending any money from Government's coffers," Mrs. Simpson Miller said.
With Nomination Day set for May 17, the Eastern Westmoreland race is expected to be closely contested between attorney-at-law and Jamaica Labour Party caretaker Don Foote, and People's National Party (PNP) councillor for the Leamington Division, Luther Buchanan.
FINANCIAL AND MORAL SUPPORT
Mr. Foote said yesterday he had seen his financial and moral support "quadruple" since the exit of the former Prime Minister.
"There are some very prominent people in the parish who are now backing me financially and otherwise," he told The Gleaner.
Mr. Foote said his current backers had not been present before because they felt it would have been disrespectful to Mr. Patterson who was the sitting MP.
Efforts to contact Mr. Buchanan for a reaction to the Prime Minister's election announcement proved unsuccessful.
Mr. Buchanan had received the PNP's green light on January 19 to represent the party following Mr. Patterson's retirement on March 30. His late brother, Norman Buchanan, had previously won that selection but died following a brief illness last September.
