THE Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) candidate for South Central St Catherine, Devon McDaniel, highlighted Nomination Day activities in the Spanish Town-based constituency Tuesday, leading a march of hundreds of his supporters from Central Village to the nomination centre at Spanish Village Plaza, Twickenham Park.

Not to be outdone, his opponent, Sharon Hay-Webster turned up with an equally large crowd forcing St Catherine North police chief, Harry Daley, to personally secure a buffer between the two groups as the candidates were nominated within minutes of each other.

While, in Central St Catherine, JLP candidate, Olivia “Babsy” Grange led a massive crowd from Tawes Pen to the Brunswick Avenue nomination centre, more than an hour after her opponents – Rohan Silvera (PNP) and Pepon Ruddock (National Democratic Movement) – had been nominated.

Silvera, who turned up with only about 12 supporters for his nomination at 10:35 am, said that he had deliberately chosen the earlier time to reduce the chance of conflict. However, by the time Grange and her team arrived, there were hundreds of his supporters on Brunswick Avenue.

Grange, however, said she saw nothing wrong with the situation as she pointed out that Silvera and some of his supporters actually walked with her to the gate of the nomination centre.

Thanks to the efforts of Daley and his team, as well as a strong sense of accomodation, the rival groups mingled, sang, danced and shouted party slogans without the usual tension, as the day passed without any obvious acts of violence.

Grange had a brief exchange with the security at the nomination centre on her arrival, after they refused to let in more than 10 of her supporters. According to her, she was informed that while only 10 could enter the office, at least another five could enter the premises. The police refused her request.

Up at the Spanish Village Plaza, McDaniel arrived half-an-hour late for his 11:30 am appointment. He said the delay was due to the fact that the support was so “overwhelming”.

The march was supported by a marching band as well as a mobile disco as it travelled down Mandela Highway to the centre. “It was wonderful. It went well,” McDaniel said.

Meanwhile, in an orange straw hat, Hay-Webster led her team onto the premises smiling and sharing hugs with the vanguard minutes after her opponent left.

She insisted that she had the larger crowd stating that if McDaniel’s crowd was “large” hers was “tremendous”.

“Is not even half this, so don’t talk about (his) large crowd,” she remarked.

She said that the crowd was simply an outpouring of affection for her.

Over on Brunswick Avenue, Superintendent Daley had to personally take charge of directing traffic, after the huge Grange motorcade ran into a roadblock including busloads of PNP supporters.

The occasion was really carnival-like without much tension and the police did a superb job of securing the areas and maintaining peace and order despite the stiff challenges.