A third of the 15 newly elected Members of Parliament in the western end of the island won their seats on their first attempt to enter Gordon House.

Of the five, two are members of the ruling People’s National Party and three are from the Jamaica Labour Party.

Dr Patrick Harris (PNP) beat his closest rival, the JLP’s Chris Jobson, by 1,497 votes and managed to retain the seat that was last held by the PNP’s Wendell “Bull Bull” Stewart.

“I am humbled by the victory, North Trelawny has spoken. I plan to do my best to represent the constituency and my immediate priority will be water for every community and the beautification of Falmouth,” Dr Harris told the Observer shortly after his victory was confirmed. “I am inviting Jobson to be a part of the development of the constituency and I want to congratulate him for the manner in which the campaign was conducted.”

In Western Hanover, Ralston Anson (PNP) also managed to keep the seat that was brought home by Ben Clare in the last election. He got 7,442 votes to Travis Spence’s 5,735.

In St James, newcomer Clive Mullings (JLP) got 54 percent of the votes and defeated the PNP’s Hugh Solomon who had been sent to retain the West Central St James seat last held by his comrade, Arthur Nelson.

“I am going to be even-handed and fair. In fact, I must comment on the campaign itself. It was a good campaign. We saw where supporters of both political parties were even dancing together,” said Mullings Wednesday night. “My last political meeting had comrades nearby and we were celebrating and I think it marks a change in our politics. I must add as well that the fact that Mr (Bruce) Golding has joined the party and has brought a new fusion of energy and focus, that augurs well for politics and hopefully for my political career.”

In South Trelawny, political neophyte Devon McDaniel (JLP) was able to edge out the sitting MP Doreen Chen by grabbing 5,886 of the popular votes, as compared to her 4,406. He said he won because of the lack of representation from Chen. To kick off the night’s celebration, supporters carried him on their shoulders from the gate of the Ulster Spring courthouse where voting took place.

And over in Eastern Hanover, Barrington Gray (JLP) narrowly edged out Lucea mayor, Lloyd Hill, with 53 percent of the votes.

“I think (I won because of) the way I live with people as a contractor around the area,” said Gray as his supporters celebrated in the streets. “The people that work for me, I deal with them honestly and let them feel comfortable and I think that has spread over in the families. So all the families have the confidence in me to lead.”

The JLP fielded a total of 12 new candidates and the PNP eight.