MONTEGO BAY, St James — THE ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Area Council Four will select a new chairman on Sunday, when the council holds its annual general meeting at the Black River High School in St Elizabeth.

Incumbent chairman J C Hutchinson, who has served in that post for 17 years, is stepping away, opting instead to devote more time to his North West St Elizabeth constituency ahead of general elections which are constitutionally due next year.

Party insiders say the chairmanship should be a tight race between former JLP deputy general secretary, Dennis Meadows and deputy speaker of the house, Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert.

Roughly 180 delegates from the Area Council, which comprises the parishes of Trelawny, St James, Hanover, Westmoreland and St Elizabeth, are eligible to cast ballots. Nominations will be accepted from the floor.

Meadows, who is also the JLP caretaker for North Trelawny and a government senator, served the party as deputy general secretary from 2005-2007 and again from 2009-2010.

He believes that the experience gained in carrying out his duties in that post has equipped him to deal with the “heavy workload” that is required of the area council chairman.

Meadows told the Observer West yesterday that his canvass had shown him to be in a very favourable position.

“Over the last few years I have served the party well and I have earned the respect and trust of my peers,” he boasted.

Dalrymple-Philibert, who is also the sitting Member of Parliament for South Trelawny, said she decided to contest the position because of her commitment to the party and her organisational skills.

“I have something very positive to offer,” she said yesterday.

“I am a performance-oriented person, who is honest and has good organisational skills so I can achieve a lot in that job,” she argued.

There was speculation that JLP caretaker for Western Hanover, Donovan Hamilton would have entered the chairmanship race, but a party insider said yesterday that he is expected to run for deputy secretary or treasurer at Sunday’s AGM.

Dr Christopher Tufton, the recently elected deputy leader for the area council, said that this weekend’s meeting will be of great importance.

“Not only will a new chairman be elected, but other political functionaries such as secretary, deputy secretary and treasurer will be appointed,” he said.

He added that the area council executive will be mandated to work closely with the party’s secretariat as the JLP prepares itself for local government and general elections.

Tufton said a “one-day” retreat for the area council was planned for Montego Bay on Sunday, January 30.

He said the retreat — which will be attended by JLP representatives from the constituency and parish council levels, as well as members of the area council executive — will assess the party’s election readiness in the western region.

In the 2007 general elections, which the JLP won by a razor-thin majority, the party gained victory in seven of the 15 parliamentary seats in the region. In the subsequent local government polls, it gained control of three of the five parish council divisions.

Tufton has vowed to improve the party’s performance in future elections.