BY MARK CUMMINGS

Observer senior reporter

cummingsm@jamaicaobserver.com

MONTEGO BAY, St James – Former deputy leader of the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Edmund Bartlett, yesterday expressed satisfaction at the performance of the party’s candidates in the western region in Monday’s general elections.

“I was expecting more, but eight is very good; it was an excellent performance,” said Bartlett, who successfully contested the East Central St James seat.

Based on the preliminary election results, the Opposition JLP picked up an additional two seats over the amount it had won in the 2002 general elections in the region, which comprises Trelawny, St James, St Elizabeth, Westmoreland and Hanover.

The JLP now holds parliamentary seats in South Trelawny, South West, South East, and North West St Elizabeth, as well as the four in the parish of St James.

The party, however, lost the East Hanover seat which was won by Barrington Gray in 2002.

But yesterday Bartlett told the Observer that the party was expected to retain that seat at the end of the final count, which is expected to start today at the Electoral Office in Kingston.

Meanwhile, People’s National Party (PNP) chairman for Region Six, Wykeham McNeil yesterday expressed disappointment with his party’s performance in that region.

“I am very disappointed; I was expecting that we would do better in the region,” said McNeil, who has responsibility for the parishes of Hanover, St James and Westmoreland. “I was really expecting to win at least six of the nine seats,” added Mc Neil, who retained his Western Westmoreland seat.

Preliminary results showed that the PNP won five seats in Region Six in Monday’s national polls, the same number it had won in the 2002 general elections.

McNeil also told the Observer yesterday that he was very surprised to learn that minister of labour and social security, Derrick Kellier, had lost the South St James parliamentary seat to the JLP’s Noel Donaldson.

“I am very, very surprised at that seat (South St James), I had expected Derrick (Kellier) to win it,” the Region Six chairman said.

Kellier, a former chairman for Region Six and vice-chairman of the PNP, has been a member of parliament since 1989.