SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — For many years the constituency of Central Westmoreland has been regarded as a safe seat for the ruling People’s National Party (PNP).

In fact, the last time it was won by the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) was in 1983 when the PNP, under the leadership of Michael Manley (now deceased), decided to boycott the snap General Election of that year, called by then JLP leader and Prime Minister Edward Seaga.

Since then, the PNP has won the seat handsomely in all of the six subsequent elections — the last two by PNP Vice-President Emeritus Roger Clarke, whose sudden death in August this year has resulted in a by-election scheduled for tomorrow.

But, based on the level of campaigning by both political parties over the last three weeks, it would appear that the PNP is not leaving anything to chance, while the JLP, on the other hand, is hell-bent on breaking the PNP’s winning streak.

“Based on the tradition of this party, we take every single election serious. Whether it’s a by-election for a parliamentary seat, a local council election, or general election, as long as it is an election we have to take it serious, so this one is no different,” stressed Dwayne Vaz, the PNP candidate in the by-election.

The 33-year-old entrepreneur, along with financial consultant Faye Reid-Jacobs of the JLP and Astor Black of the Jamaica Alliance Movement, was nominated on November 12 to contest the by-election.

Vaz told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that his campaign has gone very well, stressing that Prime Minister and PNP President Portia Simpson Miller is playing a key role in his pitch to voters.

“It has been excellent so far; every day we are on the road having tours, meetings, house-to-house… on Thursday night we had a big meeting in Petersfield and the prime minister was there.

“In fact, apart from the Petersfield meeting, we have had two other big meetings so far, one in Frome and the other in Withorn square, and she (Simpson Miller) was there,” said the PNP aspirant.

Last night, the ruling party was scheduled to wrap up its campaign with a mass meeting in Savanna-la-Mar in the vicinity of the Courthouse.

The party president, Vaz said, was scheduled to be the keynote speaker.

But apart from addressing the mass meetings, Simpson Miller has also been seen in various sections of the constituency over the last few days meeting and greeting constituents.

Other party officials, including minister of local government and community development Noel Arscott, youth and culture minister Lisa Hanna, tourism minister and MP for the neighbouring Western Westmoreland constituency Wykeham McNeill, junior agriculture minister and MP for Eastern Westmoreland Luther Buchanan, minister of land, water, environment and PNP Chairman Robert Pickersgill, junior ministers Richard Azan, Ian Hayles, Damion Crawford and Morais Guy, have also visited the constituency in recent days, Vaz added.

Not to be outdone, the leadership of the Opposition JLP has also had a strong presence in the area.

“The leader [Andrew Holness] practically lives down here. He is all over the place campaigning,” a seemingly upbeat JLP supporter said yesterday.

Reid-Jacobs told the Sunday Observer on Friday that “the entire JLP team is down here, including the leader”.

“We have been going into all the nooks and crannies and have looked at the appalling state of the communities, and having seen the conditions — the drainage, roads, conditions under which the people are living — the senior members of the party have decided to devote their time so we can get a JLP representative in the Parliament to represent the people,” the Westmoreland native explained.

“What I believe we have down here is the control of the constituency, not representation of the constituency.”

Stressing that the constituency — which encompasses Westmoreland’s capital Savanna-la-Mar, Frome, Withorn, Petersfield, Cornwall Mountain, Haddo, Smithfield and several other small districts — has been neglected over the past 25 years, Reid-Jacobs charged that over the past few weeks a number of things, including the “dropping of marl” in some areas, have been done, apparently to appease voters.

“From what I have seen, it is clear that they are using taxpayers’ money, not for the well-being of the communities, but instead in a manner to secure votes. If that wasn’t so, they would have dealt with those issues long ago, not on the eve of the election,” she argued.

Last Friday, Pickersgill commissioned into service a water supply system at Barneyside in Central Westmoreland, which is expected to benefit over 3,000 residents in several communities, including Cornwall Mountain, Mount Stewart, Cold Spring, Castle Mountain and Maxfield.

Work on a number of other projects, including the cleaning of drains and the patching of roads, has also been undertaken in a number of communities across the constituency in recent days.

In spite of this, Reid-Jacobs argued that scores of PNP supporters have vowed to stay away from the polls tomorrow, in protest against the neglect of the constituency.

“Quite a large number of the PNP supporters say that they are not going out to vote. Their own supporters want them out,” emphasised a confident Reid-Jacobs.

Her party was scheduled to wrap up campaigning activities yesterday with a number of spot meetings culminating with a mass meeting in Withorn square, where several JLP officials were expected to be in attendance.

JLP General Secretary Dr Horace Chang had recently told the Observer that the party would be going all-out to secure victory.

“We are very optimistic as well, because we have a very good candidate who has roots in the constituency and who has been working hard there over the past five months,” Dr Chang said earlier this month.

“The party’s entire political machinery will be giving her full support. We are going to give it our best shot.”

Dr Chang added that the party is not daunted by the fact that the constituency has had a long history of voting for the PNP, arguing that a number of people have expressed disappointment with the level of political representation they have been receiving over the years.

In the 2011 general elections, Clarke defeated the JLP candidate, Marlene Malahoo-Forte, by a margin of 3,042 votes. Four years before, in the 2007 polls, Clarke whipped the JLP’s Russel Hammond by 1,800 votes.

Yesterday, Vaz said that although he is cognisant that the voter turnout in by-elections is usually low, he expects to win the seat by a majority of about 3,000 votes.

“My confidence is based on the response I am getting from the people on the road. Their energy level has been raised and they know that I am for them, and that I will be with them working together for the good of the constituency,” he argued.

Meanwhile, efforts to contact Black, who has been rejected by the electorate on numerous occasions in his bid to gain political representation, were unsuccessful.

Some 39,367 electors have been registered to cast their ballots in tomorrow’s by-election.

ASTOR BLACK 2

Astor Black (right) of the Jamaica Alliance Movement receives his nomination receipt from returning officer for Central Westmoreland Maurice Rodriques on nomination day, November 12.

FAYE & ANDREW

Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate Faye Reid-Jacobs walks with party leader Andrew Holness after she was nominated to contest the December 1 by-election for the Central Westmoreland seat on November 12.

PORTIA & DWAYNE

Prime Minister and PNP President Portia Simpson Miller on the hustings with Dwayne Vaz, the ruling party’s candidate in tomorrow’s by-election for the Central Westmoreland constituency.

PICKERSGILL WATER

Minister of water, land, housing and climate change Robert Pickersgill (second left) is being assisted by (from left) Mark Blair, the National Water Commission’s vice-president for potable water and distribution; Mayor of Savanna-la-Mar Bertel Moore; Pastor Omar Oliphant, director Rural Water and People’s National Party (PNP) councillor for the Cornwall Mountain Division in the constituency of Central Westmoreland; and Bernard Vanriel to turn on the pipe, bringing water to hundreds of residents in the constituency. (PHOTOS: PHILLIP LEMONTE)