SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland – Former Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) member of parliament for Central Westmoreland, Russell Hammond, who unsuccessfully contested the Western Westmoreland seat on the National Democratic Party’s (NDM) ticket in the 1997 general elections, is set to return to representational politics.

Hammond, 54, who served as member of parliament for Central Westmoreland from 1983 to 1989 under the JLP’s banner, will be attempting to wrest the seat from the People’s National Party (PNP) Dr Karl Blythe whenever the next general elections are held.

Hammond is expected to be officially declared the JLP’s candidate for the constituency within the next two months.

“By the end of this month or early January his (Hammond’s) application for the seat will be formalised,” Dr Horace Chang, the JLP’s deputy leader for Area Council Four, told the Observer on Thursday.

He added that the party had not received any other applications for the position.

Hammond has had a colourful political career.

A former campaign manager for ex-JLP member of parliament for Central Westmoreland, Karam Josephs, he served as councillor for the Savanna-la-Mar division from 1981 to 1983 before taking up his appointment as the party’s representative in Central Westmoreland.

After serving as MP for that constituency between 1983 and 1989 he was shifted to the constituency of Western Westmoreland in the 1989 general elections where he lost to the PNP’s Dr Ken McNeil.

He again lost to McNeil in 1993 in the general elections of that year.

Two years later Hammond left the JLP to become a founding member of the NDM, and was at one time the party’s spokesman on construction and works.

He unsuccessfully contested the 1997 general elections on the NDM ticket.

In 2002, Hammond left the NDM and actively campaigned in the constituency of Eastern Hanover for the JLP’s candidate, Barrington Gray.

“Last year I decided to start some duties in the parish of Westmoreland and later submitted an application to become the caretaker for Central Westmoreland,” Hammond told the Observer.

On Thursday he said that he was very encouraged by the response of the constituents and has already put measures in place to retain the seat for the JLP.

“A tremendous amount of people are showing an interest in my return to active politics; we have a management team in place and I have started my house-to-house campaign,” Hammond said.

” I am very encouraged and I feel very optimistic,” the former MP added.

Meanwhile, Chang told the Observer that with the Central Westmoreland seat “almost settled”, there are three other seats in the party’s Area Council Four to be filled.

There are 15 constituencies in the party’s Area Council Four covering the parishes of Trelawny, St James, Hanover, Westmoreland and St Elizabeth.

The seats to be settled include the South Trelawny constituency, which is currently represented by the JLP’s Devon McDaniel, who earlier this year announced that he would not be seeking re-election whenever the next general elections are called.

The other two vacancies, Chang said, are South St James, which is presently represented by junior security minister Derrick Kellier, and in Eastern Westmoreland, where the sitting caretaker Don Foote is being challenged for the position by business consultant Winston Blackwood.

All the vacancies, Chang said, will be filled by next March.