ALBERT TOWN, Trelawny – Incumbent Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) member of parliament for South Trelawny Devon McDaniel, who said a little over a year ago that he will not be contesting the next general election, has been selected to contest the South Central St Catherine seat for the JLP.

He replaces Trevon Garvey who unsuccessfully contested the seat against the People’s National Party’s Sharon Hay-Webster in the 2002 general election.

“He (McDaniel) has been selected and it’s now left to be ratified by the party’s (JLP) Central Executive when it meets next, probably sometime in March,” James Robertson, the party’s deputy leader in charge of Area Council Two told the Observer. ” He (McDaniel) however, is now free to go in and do his political work,” added the deputy leader.

McDaniel, 33, defeated Garvey by 72 votes at a selection meeting recently at the Jose Marti High School in St Catherine.

In September 2005, the Observer first reported that the young parliamentarian would not be contesting the next general election, constitutionally due this year, because of what he said was a disappointment with the Westminster system of government.

At that time, he argued that getting things done in the constituency had proven to be difficult, particularly because he does not hold a ministerial position.

But the incumbent MP told the Observer last December that in recent months he has become convinced that JLP leader Bruce Golding is committed to making profound changes to the existing political system.

In light of that he added then, he was making himself available to contest the South Central St Catherine constituency.

McDaniel was elected in the 2002 general elections after beating the PNP’s Doreen Chen by almost 1,500 votes. He was, at that time, one of the youngest members of parliament to be elected.

Following his announcement that he would not be contesting the South Trelawny seat, the JLP installed attorney Marisa Dalrymple Philibert as its representative to contest the upcoming election in the area.

McDaniel, who expressed confidence that he would take home his new seat for the JLP in the upcoming general election, said he has already started to campaign in the area.

“Since Monday I have started to meet the people and to tell them about my vision and mission for the constituency, and so far I have been well received,” he said.

He added that he was looking forward to working closely with Garvey to wrest the seat from the PNP.

Meanwhile, Robertson has also expressed confidence that the JLP would win the seat on election day.

“A lot of things are now in our favour in the constituency,” he said. “The enumeration of voters is in our favour; the new voting procedures are in our favour and a lot of people in the area who voted for the PNP the last time around now say that they will be voting for us, so that seat will come home for the JLP,” said Robertson.