MONTEGO BAY, St James — Yesterday’s Nomination Day activities in western Jamaica proceeded well until a late afternoon incident in the troubled Flanker community left one person dead when armed men fired on a Jamaica Labour Party motorcade.

Outside of that it was mainly a carnival-like atmosphere which saw 27 candidates nominated to contest the 12 parliamentary seats up for grabs in the February 25 General Election in the region.

In the four western parishes — Trelawny, Hanover, St James and Westmoreland — the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) and Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) each nominated 12 candidates, while there were two independent candidates and a representative from the National Democratic Movement (NDM).

In Trelawny, the PNP nominated Victor Wright in Trelawny Northern, Lloyd Gillings in Trelawny Southern, while in the neighbouring parish of St James, the party nominated Noel Donaldson, East Central; Ashley-Ann Foster, St James Central; Sharon Ffolkes-Abrahams, St James West Central; Derrick Kellier, St James Southern and Anthony Henry, St James North West.

The party also nominated Ian Hayles in Hanover Western and Wynter McIntosh in Hanover Eastern while in the parish of Westmoreland; Luther Buchanan is the candidate for Westmoreland Eastern, Wykeham McNeill, Westmoreland Western; and Dwayne Vaz in Westmoreland Central.

Nominated for the Opposition JLP were: Dennis Meadows, Trelawny Northern; Marissa Dalrymple Phillibert, Trelawny Southern, while in St James, Dr Horace Chang was nominated in St James North Western; Heroy Clarke in St James Central; Homer Davis, St James Southern; Ed Bartlett, St James East Central and Marlene Malahoo Forte in St James West Central.

Brian Wallace and Dave Brown were nominated in Hanover Western and Hanover Eastern, respectively, while in Westmoreland Andrea Walters was nominated in Westmoreland Eastern; George Wright in Westmoreland Central and Dixeth Palmer in Westmoreland Western.

The NDM nominated Leonard Sharpe in Hanover Western, while independent candidates Haile Mika’el and Toraino Beckford were nominated in Westmoreland Eastern and Westmoreland Central, respectively.

With nominations for the 12 seats out of the way, the stage has been set for a number of interesting contests, particularly in the constituency of St James Central, where newcomer Foster and Clarke will do battle.

Yesterday, both candidates expressed confidence in winning the seat.

“We are very confident this time. We are avoiding the pitfalls from the last time; I take the blame for 2011 [as] we took things for granted,” said Clarke, who lost the seat by a margin of 98 votes to Lloyd B Smith in the 2011 General Election.

Foster, for her part, said she expects to win the seat by more than 500 votes, pointing out that she has been on the ground organising.

Local political observers believe too that the Bartlett and Donaldson contest in St James East Central; Malahoo Forte and Ffolkes-Abrahams contest in St James West Central; as well as in Hanover Eastern where Brown is vying against McIntosh, are some of the seats to watch when the votes are being tallied on February 25.