MONTEGO BAY, St James — Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Spokesperson for Health Senator Marlene Malahoo Forte is expected to be confirmed as the party’s constituency representative for St James West Central in the upcoming general election, when the JLP Central Executive meets on Sunday.

JLP General Secretary Dr Horace Chang told the Jamaica Observer that Malahoo Forte should be confirmed at the September 13 Central Executive meeting, noting that she is the only applicant for the position.

“She is not yet confirmed… but she is the only applicant and applications for the position have essentially been closed,” said Dr Chang.

Last week, former JLP Senator Dennis Meadows, who earlier this year applied for the position, withdrew his application, citing the protracted delay by the party in setting a date for the selection exercise for his decision.

“The delegates/workers of the party have become severely frustrated and demoralised with the inordinate delay in settling on a standard-bearer,” Meadows said in a letter to the party’s general secretary.

“It’s not about me, but a seat so critical to the mission of victory for the party in the upcoming election should have been long occupied by candidate/caretaker, and a selection which is often fractious and divisive so close to a possible election by year-end, may prove counterproductive,” added Meadows.

He argued, however, that if Malahoo Forte is afforded enough time and effective organisational support, she should win the seat — currently held by the People’s National Party’s (PNP’s) Sharon Ffolkes Abrahams — for the JLP, stressing what he described as “the weakened PNP organisation in the constituency and the incumbent’s poor rating among comrades and the general public.”

When contacted, Malahoo Forte, who unsuccessfully contested the Westmoreland Central constituency in the 2011 General Election, polling 8,522 votes to the late Roger Clarke’s 11,564, told the Observer that the party’s representative in the constituency will be known very soon.

“You will know very soon….the people have asked me to represent them, I have considered it, and I have indicated that to the party,” said Malahoo Forte, adding that “I have been meeting with some of those persons who have asked.”

In 2011 Ffolkes Abrahams defeated the JLP’s Clive Mullings by 663 votes in St James West Central, in the parliamentary election that saw a 49 per cent voter turnout.