Western Bureau: As the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) continues to present its slate of candidates for the upcoming general elections, the party will this weekend turn the spotlight on the constituency of South Trelawny.

Today, Opposition Leader Edward Seaga is expected to officially present 28-year-old Devon McDaniel as the party’s candidate in the constituency at a meeting to be held at the Albert Town square.

Before the presentation however, Seaga is expected to tour sections of the constituency beginning at 2:00 pm at Mahogany Hall.

From Mahogany Hall, the party leader will visit the farming communities of Lorrimers, Wire Fence, Warsop, Rock Spring, Spring Gardens and Ulster Spring.

McDaniel replaces former JLP caretaker for South Trelawny, Alfred Chen, who died last October after his helicopter crashed in the Lorrimers area of the constituency. Chen was also the sitting councillor for the Albert Town division of the Trelawny Parish Council.

In April, the party installed 49-year-old farmer, Lindel Reid as its representative in the Albert Town division, but the party was unable to find a suitable replacement for the job of constituency caretaker until June.

McDaniel, who was born in Warsop, a small district in the constituency, told the Observer that if he is elected as member of parliament for the area, he plans to use his influence to improve the social and economic conditions of his constituents.

“There is a need for greater economic development and better representation in the constituency and I want to do something about that,” he remarked.

He added that he intends to lobby for better roads, the reopening of the Ulster Spring Hospital, better health care for the elderly, more telephone lines and improvements in the supply of water.

McDaniel will face the People’s National Party’s Doreen Chen in the upcoming general election.

Meanwhile, JLP deputy leader Ed Bartlett said his party has confirmed 15 of the 16 candidates in the Area 4 region, which consists of the parishes of Trelawny, St James, Hanover, Westmoreland and St Elizabeth.

“The constituency of South St James is the only one that is not yet filled and this will be done by the end of this month,” Bartlett stated.

He went on to charge that the ruling People’s National Party was in “total disarray” in the five western parishes.

“They (PNP) are having big problems in the West. (MP for East central St James Violet) Neilson not going back, (West central St James MP Arthur) Nelson, (North West St James MP Francis) Tulloch and (Eastern Hanover MP) Canute Brown all dropping out and they have problems with North Trelawny seat. They are in turmoil,” Bartlett claimed.

The PNP is yet to decide on its candidate for North Trelawny, where there is a keen battle between incumbent Wendell Stewart and newcomer Dr Patrick Harris.

But according to Bartlett, even as the ruling party tries to sort itself out in the west, the JLP has been gaining ground, and he charged that over the last two years, polls have shown that the western parishes have been showing very positive signs for his party.