SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — There were no reported discordant incidents and no surprises on Nomination Day in St Elizabeth yesterday.

All eight candidates named by their respective political parties, the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP), were nominated for the four constituencies in the parish — paying a nomination fee of $15,000 each.

Returning officers across the parish said no independent candidates were nominated for the parliamentary election set for September 3.

They said nomination procedures went smoothly and with very few hitches.

Head of the St Elizabeth police Deputy Superintendent Narda Simms told journalists by telephone that “apart from normal traffic congestion… things went well”.

Those nominated in St Elizabeth were the incumbent J C Hutchinson of the JLP and challenger Ryan Keating of the PNP in St Elizabeth North Western; Basil Waite of the PNP and Delroy Slowley of the JLP in St Elizabeth North Eastern; Frank Witter of the JLP and Dr Dwaine Spencer of the PNP in St Elizabeth South Eastern; Floyd Green of the JLP and Ewan Stephenson of the PNP in St Elizabeth South Western.

In Santa Cruz, Slowley told journalists following his nomination at the Santa Cruz Primary and Junior High School that he was “confident” of becoming the first successful JLP candidate in a contested parliamentary poll in St Elizabeth North Eastern since J C Hutchinson won in 1980 — part of a landslide for the JLP back then.

Slowley, a Santa Cruz businessman who ran as an Independent candidate in St Elizabeth NE in 2016, accused the PNP of “gross neglect” in political representation in St Elizabeth North Eastern.

He told journalists that he had put in the “work” way beyond the call of duty as an unelected politician and JLP caretaker, building roads and water projects among other infrastructure throughout the constituency in recent years, because he saw the need.

Slowley said he had the interests of the people at heart and was prepared to be “an agent of change”.

Waite too, said he was dedicated to serving the interests of the people, identifying education, youth training, employment and infrastructural development, including water and roads, as among his priority development areas.

Back in 2011, Waite was sidelined by his party on the eve of elections, after being overwhelmingly chosen by delegates to be their standard-bearer.

Yesterday, Waite, flanked by the outgoing Member of Parliament Evon Redman, and Councillor Everton Fisher, who lost the delegates’ contest to represent the PNP in the constituency two years ago after Redman announced his decision to exit politics, said his time had come.

“My whole life I have been prepared for this day,” he said.

Back in 2016 Redman secured 7,733 votes defeating the JLP’s Saphire Longmore by 1,524 votes, with Slowley who had the support of disgruntled former PNP supporters, running third with 696.

Waite insisted that the PNP was now united and his constituency organisation was taking nothing for granted ahead of the September 3 election. There would be no complacency, he said.

In St Elizabeth North Western, the PNP’s Ryan Keating is expected to have an uphill task seeking to upset Hutchinson.

Back in 2016, Hutchinson polled 5,896 to the PNP’s Daren Powell’s 4,951.

In St Elizabeth South Eastern, incumbent Witter is striving to hold off Spencer after defeating the PNP’s Richard Parchment by 205 votes in 2016. The count back then was 9,223 for Witter while Parchment gained 9,018 votes.

In St Elizabeth South Western, incumbent Floyd Green of the JLP is widely expected to maintain his grip on a seat he won easily in 2016 by more than 2,000 votes — 10,152 to the PNP’s Hugh Buchanan’s 8,095. The contest for that seat, long considered among Jamaica’s quintessential swing constituencies, takes on added intrigue since challenger Ewan Stephenson, a businessman and former banker, is recovering from surgery for stomach cancer.