There was a purposeful activity inside the small constituency office for St Andrew Eastern incumbent Andre Hylton yesterday afternoon as his campaign team, led by People’s National Party (PNP) councillor for the Papine Division Venesha Phillips put the final touches to preparations for today’s nomination exercise.

“We have completed our preparations. We are just going over our checklist to ensure that we have covered all our bases,” a cheerful Phillips, flanked by four female team members, told the

Jamaica Observer. “He is going to be the member of Parliament, so we have to appear that way. We are in high spirits,” she said in reference to Hylton.

In fact, she said the campaign team was already making preparations for election day. “Right now, we are not even talking nomination, we are dealing with election day preparations,” she stated.

Speaking to Sunday night’s shooting incident in Sam Sharpe Square at the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) rally, Phillips said she had no particular concern about violence on the campaign trail in the division, but that the team continued to be vigilant.

“We stay in touch with our counterpart on the JLP side. We are not expecting any flare-ups, but you can’t be too careful, so we are taking all the necessary steps to ensure that we impress upon our comrades, as we do those who support the Labour Party, to talk to the leaders if they see conflict arising,” she said.

Further east, off lower Mountain View Avenue, the management team for the JLP’s Fayval Williams, who is contesting the St Andrew Eastern seat, was also hard at work. Upbeat team member Tal Cadienhead said preparations were well advanced.

“In fact, all the constituencies of the Jamaica Labour Party, the workers and so on are fired up and ready to work. After the nomination, certainly our candidate will be out there making the appeals for persons to come out and vote. Fayval Williams is a winner, without any shadow of a doubt. She has built the foundation. She has worked and continues to work,” he said.

In reference to the Sam Sharpe Square shootings, Cadienhead said: “From my own position it is regrettable.”

The police have since dismissed reports that the shootings were politically motivated.

According to recent public opinion polls, Hylton, who won the seat in 2011 with 6,606 votes over JLP candidate Dr Saphire Longmore-Dropinski with 6,352 votes, has lost some ground in the constituency and is lagging behind Williams.

Only a little over half of the voters in the constituency turned out for that election. With the country’s increasing history of low voter turn-out, indications are that the businessman could find himself neck and neck with Williams for the seat, which is now among a slew of marginal seats to be contested at the polls on February 25.

Still, according to the new voters’ list published by the Electoral Office of Jamaica on November 30 last year, 3,041 new electors are now eligible to vote in the constituency, moving from 23,000 in 2011, to 26,041.