Edward Seaga has called a meeting of the Jamaica Labour Party’s Selection Committee for this evening for a signal as to who would be the party’s preferred candidate to replace him as member of parliament for West Kingston when he relinquishes the post later this month.

Today’s meeting, which will begin a review of applications for the seat, follows a vote by the constituency committee last night at which Kingston’s mayor and deputy chairman of the constituency, Desmond McKenzie emerged as the favourite over Olivia “Babsy” Grange, Seaga’s preferred candidate.

But McKenzie has already made it clear that he is not interested in the seat, raising the possibility of party leadership contender Bruce Golding being asked to seek the delegates’ approval.

So far, only Tom Tavares-Finson, a prominent Kingston attorney, has formally applied to represent the constituency after Seaga leaves. But Tavares-Finson has said that he would only be willing to reconsider his position if Golding indicated an interest in the seat.

Grange has said that she needed to first discuss the issue with her constituents in Central St Catherine.

Seaga announced last June that he would step down as party leader at the JLP’s annual conference that was planned for November.

But that vote had to be postponed after one of the contenders, Pearnel Charles, went to court to challenge the integrity of the delegates list which he claimed did not meet the party’s constitutional requirements.

The issue has been settled and the conference will now be held in February. But last week Seaga, who had initially intended to stay as MP for West Kingston, announced that he would have to give up that job too in order to take up a Chair in the Department of Government at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), triggering the search for a candidate for the West Kingston constituency.

With Seaga having to leave his party and constituency posts by mid-month, the JLP’s Central Executive, the highest decision-making body outside the annual conference, is expected to meet this week to work out an interim arrangement for leadership until the new party boss is elected next month. This is separate from the constituency issue, officials said.

Party insiders told the Observer last night that at yesterday’s constituency meeting in Tivoli Gardens a total of 144 constituency committee members attended and the vast majority indicated their preference for McKenzie, who at one time appeared to be Seaga’s heir-apparent in the constituency.

A handful of delegates cast rough ballots for Tavares-Finson although he was not formally part of the indicative vote.

“Mr Seaga was not pleased with the result of the vote,” one party official, who declined to be named, told the Observer.

Last week Tuesday, before telling his constituents of his decision to give up the constituency chair, Seaga, at a meeting with senior JLP officials, had proposed that Grange move from Central St Catherine to West Kingston, that Golding return to Central St Catherine, which he had represented up to 1997, and that McKenzie stay on as mayor of Kingston. All three, the Observer was told, accepted the proposal.

But Tavares-Finson quickly announced his intention to contest the seat and handed in his application late last week.

“There has to be a selection process after Mr Seaga has resigned, and I intend to participate in that process,” Tavares-Finson told the Observer.