Despite a rift in the constituency over his selection and trends in favour of his opponent, the People’s National Party (PNP’s) Norman Horne is confident of winning the South-East St Elizabeth parliamentary seat in the upcoming general elections by a margin of about 2,000 votes.

“The support for me is overwhelming, and I am absolutely sure that I will win,” he told the OBSERVER WEST.

A former Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) senator who unsuccessfully contested the Central Manchester seat on that party’s ticket in the 2002 parliamentary elections, Horne was controversially selected by the PNP last November to contest the South-East St Elizabeth seat.

In 2004, interestingly, Horne was named the JLP’s constituency representative for the same seat and was set to challenge the PNP’s incumbent, Lenworth Blake. But two years later, he jumped ship and headed for the PNP – the party he had supported prior to joining the JLP.

Horne’s selection by the PNP late last year has left the party battling to unite the constituency behind him. In fact, it is no secret that all the PNP caretakers/councillors and Blake, the incumbent MP, are not supportive of the PNP candidate’s bid to retain the seat for the party.

But Horne, a successful businessman who says he has a passion for developing the constituency, remains convinced he will be successful.

For one thing, Horne is blessed with the expertise of former PNP MP Derrick Rochester, who represented the constituency from 1989 to 2002.

“Mr Rochester is a lead member in my campaign, and I have all of the PD (polling division,) PNP workers in the campaign; cluster manager and key PNP political activitists,” Horne boasted.

But will this be enough to prevent the JLP’s Franklyn Witter from taking the seat this time around? Witter, the present mayor of Black River and councillor for the Junction Division is no stranger to the constituency.

Indeed, the upcoming election will be his third attempt to wrest the seat from the ruling PNP. In the last parliamentary elections almost five years ago, Witter lost the seat to Blake, his cousin, by 82 votes.

Witter believes, however, that this time around he will win the seat by no fewer than 1,200 ballots. He is said to have a very good constituency organisation, headed by former JLP South-East St Elizabeth MP Jeremy Palmer.

Witter is also hoping to capitalise on the rift in the PNP camp over the selection of Horne as its candidate. In addition, the JLP candidate is optimistic that the more than 2,000 voters, which he claimed the JLP enumerated over the last three years, will vote overwhelmingly for the party.

“We are definitely going to win this time. The trend is there,” he told the OBSERVER WEST. “Prior to the 2003 parish council elections, the PNP controlled all (four) of the parish council divisions, except one. But in the 2003 parish council elections, we reversed that.”

The JLP now has political control of three of the four parish council divisions in the constituency.

While it might be difficult at this time to predict who will win the contest on election day, one thing is certain – the successful candidate will have to work assiduously to improve the lives of the more than 50,000 constituents. For example, residents – particularly those engaged in agriculture – have been agitating for a reliable supply of water for years.

Then there is the need to provide sporting facilities and to find much needed jobs, in an effort to put a dent in the high levels of unemployment.

Whoever wins South-East St Elizabeth, therefore, has his work cut out for him.

PROFILE OF SOUTH-EAST

ST ELIZABETH

Population: Approximately 50,000

Geographical characteristics: the area covers the commercial districts of Junction, Bull Savannah, Nain and include the farming communities of Ballards Valley, Comma Pen, Top Hill, Southfield, Rose Hall and Myersville.

Electorate as at 30.04.07: Approximately 23,000

Principal economic activities: agriculture, bauxite and commerce

POLITICAL REPRESENTATIVES SINCE 1980

1980-1983 JLP’s Cecil July

1983-1989 JLP’s Jeremy Palmer

1989-1993 PNP’s Derrick Rochester

1993-1997 PNP’s Derrick Rochester

1997-2002 PNP’s Derrick Rochester

2002-present PNP’s Len Blake

FRANKLYN WITTER (JLP)

Born: June 14, 1959

Marital status: Married (two children)

Education: Lititz All-Age, Junction Secondary, Church Teachers’

College

Profession: businessman/politician

Work History: Worked as a teacher at BB Coke High School Civic/Affiliation: CEO Southern Plaza, Lititz.

Mayor of Black River Chairman of the St Elizabeth Parish Council Member of the Kiwanis Club of Junction

Vice-chairman of ALPART Community Council Board member of the St Elizabeth Cricket Association

NORMAN HORNE (PNP)

Born: October 22, 1962

Marital status: married (five children)

Education: Junction Secondary, Staten Island College, New York

Profession: businessman

Work History: lecturer in accounting; consultant in international trade and finance; consultant for Citi Corp on Caribbean and Central America Institutional Banking; worked for Chemical Bank and Mid Atlantic Bank; CEO of Equity and Capital

Management; principal Arc Systems Ltd – a manufacturing, distribution and trade finance company Civic/ Affiliation: Former member of Kingston Kiwanis Club Former JLP senator.