BETWEEN 130 and 140 candidates are expected to be nominated today to contest the August 27 general elections.

The figure is expected to be at least 35 candidates less than the 175 who contested the 2002 general elections, primarily due to the reduction of the number of third party candidates, with the National Democratic Movement (NDM) expected to field 11 candidates, 20 less than in 2002.

Both major political parties, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), and the People’s National Party (PNP), are contesting all 60 seats, and the leadership are satisfied that all is in place for today’s activity.

“We are ready for nomination day, we are ready for election day and we are fully confident,” said JLP general secretary, Karl Samuda.

Similar sentiments were echoed by the PNP’s ground campaign manager, Colin Campbell, who said that his party has put everything in place for fulfilling its tasks today.

Samuda said that the JLP will be hoping for a peaceful nomination process leading up to election day.

“We move into the final leg of the campaign and we have spent a lot of time planning for the election, and we are hoping for a very peaceful period,” Samuda said.

Campbell, in the meantime, confirmed that the PNP will be having one major rally tonight at Portia Simpson Square, Spanish Town Road in the Prime Minister’s South West St Andrew constituency. The JLP will be having no major rally tonight.

The NDM has reduced its number of candidates to 11 due to financial restrictions. The party had nominated 31 candidates in 2002 as part of the New Jamaica Alliance (NJA) and prior to that, 57 candidates on its own.

Spokesmen for all three parties told the Observer yesterday that everything was in place for the nomination of their candidates.

In most seats, candidates are expected to travel to the nomination centres in motorcades or with large crowds of supporters. However, there will be no such scene in Clarendon where the police yesterday announced that they have banned all public gatherings, marches and motorcades.

According to the parish’s police chief, Superintendent Radcliffe Lewis, the strain on his men manning the Denbigh Agricultural and Industrial Show, which ended yesterday in the parish, would not allow him to provide adequate security for crowds today.

Campbell said that a motorcade planned by one of the PNP’s candidate for Clarendon has been cancelled because of the decision. But JLP candidate for Central Clarendon, Mike Henry, said that he had only heard of the decision.

Henry said that he and JLP candidate for South East Clarendon, Ruddy Spencer, had planned a joint rally for tonight. He said that they would take a decision after meeting with the police chief last night.

The NDM, however, does not have much to worry about the Clarendon ban as it will have only one candidate in that parish – Eton Williams, in North Clarendon.

According to NDM general secretary, Mike Williams, the party’s 11 candidates should be nominated in East Kingston and Port Royal, East Rural St Andrew, West St Thomas, West Central St James, West Hanover, St Elizabeth South East, and St Catherine North West, Central, South and South East.

Interestingly, Denzil Taylor, whose small Republican Party of Jamaica was part of the NJA in 2002 when he ran in the general elections as well as the mayoral election in Portmore, will now be running under the NDM banner.

However, he has switched from South to South East to St Catherine, where a close race is expected between the JLP’s Arthur Williams and the PNP’s Colin Fagan.

Despite heavy rains and flooding triggered by Tropical Storm Lili in 2002, 175 candidates were nominated for the October 16 general elections.

The process was relatively incident-free, despite the large numbers of supporters of the two main parties who turned up at most nomination centres.

The number was 17 less than the 194 candidates nominated in 1997.

In addition to the NJA as a third party, attorney-at-law Antonnette Haughton-Cardenas’ United People’s Party (UPP) put up 10 candidates, while the Imperial Ethiopian World Federation Party (IEWFP) – a Rastafarian group – put up seven candidates. Eight Independents, including John Ngunu (the former Owen Vhandel), who ran in West St Andrew, were also nominated.

As was the case then, PNP candidates are likely to pay their nomination fee with $1,000 bills bearing the image of former leader, Michael Manley, while JLP candidates will mostly use $100 bills, with the image of the late Sir Donald Sangster.