LORRIMERS, Trelawny — Winning independent candidate Paul Patmore has made it clear he will not be joining either the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) or the People’s National Party (PNP) which both won four seats each in the Trelawny Parish Council following voting in Monday’s Local Government Elections.

“I will just continue to be the voice of the people. I am not interested in PNP and JLP; I will continue to represent the people,” Patmore told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

“The PNP has four (councillors), and the JLP has four; the people have one, so I will just stick with the people and continue to stay neutral,” he added.

However, Patmore, who triumphed over deputy JLP mayor of Falmouth, Steve Warren, and the PNP’s Kevin Guy in the Lorrimers Division — one of the four seats in the South Trelawny constituency — expressed his willingness to serve as the chairman of the Trelawny Parish Council and mayor of Falmouth, or as deputy chairman, if he is called upon to do so.

“I will make myself available if I am asked to serve, even as deputy mayor, it doesn’t matter. But I will always stay as an independent,” he said.

Asked how he would vote if the election of the next mayor of Falmouth depended on his ballot, Patmore, a former JLP loyalist, said that decision would be dependent on what his supporters want.

“I will always vote for the people,” said Patmore. “The people will have to be the winners at all times, so no matter the decision that I might chose to make, it has to do with the people at all times. It will never be based on any party. It has to be the people. Even to choose a chairman of the council I will have to look to the people.”

He made it clear that former mayor of Falmouth, Councillor Colin Gager (JLP, Warsop Division), would not be his choice for mayor. “Already I know it will not be the present mayor of Falmouth, Mr Gager, so I would only have seven to look at. He has been the mayor for the past four years and in my judgement he has been a failure to South Trelawny and Trelawny as a whole. I see him as a failure. I think he has failed the Trelawny people,” claimed Patmore.

Patmore told the Observer that since his win Monday he has received congratulatory messages from members of both the PNP and JLP.