The people in the West have spoken. Based on preliminary results in Monday’s general elections the opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has captured eight of the 15 parliamentary seats in the region, giving itself an additional two seats in the West.

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

A look at the winners in the region show that the country’s next parliament will see six newcomers to the House of Representatives.

They are: Marisa Dalrymple Philibert, South Trelawny; Ian Hayles, Western Hanover; Noel Donaldson, South St James; Franklyn Witter, South East St Elizabeth, Christopher Tufton, South West St Elizabeth and Kern Spencer in North East St Elizabeth.

All the other winners, except Dr D K Duncan, who was MP in the 1970’s are incumbent MPs.

While congratulations are in order for the successful candidates, they must now begin to take the necessary steps to implement the raft of projects they had promised to undertake during the campaign.

The elected candidates must carry out their duties with impartiality and vigour, as they seek to develop their respective constituencies and to instill confidence in the constituents.

The time is now for them to start the process of ridding the constituencies of tribalism, to get rid of pork barrel politics, and generally to improve the standards of living of the constituents.

The elected candidates therefore must work assiduously to improve on the social and economic gains that have been achieved in recent years.

So, as we congratulate the victors, let us hope that they don’t forget that at the end of the next five years they will be judged on the basis of their performance, not on promises.