MARISA Dalrymple-Philibert of the Jamaica Labour Party was yesterday declared the winner for the fourth time in a row for the Trelawny Southern constituency after going to battle with Lloyd Gillings of the People’s National Party and Richard Sharpe an independent candidate.

Dalrymple-Philibert won by a large margin with 7,093 votes, while Gillings got 3,030 votes and Sharpe got 24 votes in yesterday’s preliminary count.

Earlier in the day, Dalrymple-Philibert expressed her gratitude to the people of South Trelawny and promised that the seat would return to the Jamaica Labour Party.

“The people, the energy and everything is overwhelming, and regardless of what happens, I know the Jamaica Labour Party in Trelawny Southern will come home,” said a confident Dalrymple-Philibert.

Lloyd Gillings, who contested the election on behalf of the PNP, expressed gratitude to his constituents and explained to the Jamaica Observer that he was concerned about the low voter turnout and attributed it to the constituents being fearful of COVID-19.

“I think that has affect voter turnout. They are very scared of catching this coronavirus and I believe most of them have some issues with that,” said Gillings.

“I thank my constituents and I thank my good comrades for coming out. We have an excellent team on the ground. It was very short notice as it was only three days before nomination day that I decided to run, so that is something we have to look at, and I hope the party will look at that also to make sure that we have a candidate in all constituencies at an early date,” he added.

The constituency which is comprised of four divisions — Warsop, Ulster Spring, Albert Town and Lorrimers — saw a fair voter turnout at all polling stations, however, based on observation, it was quite evident that there were more JLP supporters than PNP supporters in the respective divisions.

All three contenders complained about the slow movement of the voters, due to the COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

Dalrymple-Philibert said the process was “extremely slow”, while Lloyd Gillings complained that it was moving at a very slow pace.

As a first time independent candidate, Richard Sharpe, who ran on the vision of Marcus Mosiah Garvey, said if people keep voting for the same thing over and over they should not expect a change in result.

“If only the children knew they were slaves, then the liberation, emancipation and redemption would be easy. The journey does not stop but continues straight to the black redemption. I will never give up on my people because I know that one day we will be free,” said Sharpe.