MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Chairman of the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Region Five, Kern Spencer says the party is ramping up its base in Manchester and St Elizabeth while seeking aspiring candidates to fill vacancies.

“The truth is the party and the region, as it relates to the constituencies, are not quite there yet as it relates to the selections,” he told the Jamaica Observer last week at the end of the PNP’s Myersville Divisional Conference.

“There are some present vacancies, as it relates to some divisions, for financial reasons, for family matters, there are a number of Comrades who we had already selected to run as candidates in various divisions, they have said that they will not be able to go any further,” added Spencer. The party has six regions.

He said the PNP Region Five secretariat has issued a call for Comrades interested in divisions that are vacant to come on board ahead of the PNP’s annual conference in September.

“The divisions are Grove Town, Walderston, and Royal Flat divisions in Manchester, and the Brae’s River Division in St Elizabeth. We have given people two weeks to come back to us, once they [do so] they will be given an application form and face a selection panel that I will be announcing very shortly that will take them through the process,” said Spencer, a former junior government minister and Member of Parliament for St Elizabeth North Eastern.

During the Myersville Divisional conference last Sunday at the Nain Community Centre, Spencer told PNP supporters to prepare for intense campaigns over the coming months.

He pointed out that the party is targeting the 30 local government divisions in Manchester and St Elizabeth.

“We are on a mission to win back for the People’s National Party right here in Region Five…” he told PNP supporters.

He said the party will be pressing ahead with campaigning after the PNP’s annual conference in September.

“… We are going to hit the road in Region Five and we are not coming off the ground until Andrew Holness call the election and we are going to bring home Region Five for the People’s National Party,” he said.

Myersville, a traditional stronghold of the PNP, is the only division controlled by that party in St Elizabeth South Eastern.

Spencer said Myersville Councillor Layton Smith will continue as chairman for the St Elizabeth South Eastern constituency until August.

Smith became chairman of the constituency after Spencer’s younger brother Dr Dwaine Spencer lost to the ruling Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Frank Witter in the September 2020 parliamentary elections.

“From all indications he [Smith] may be offering himself again as chairman of the constituency,” said Spencer.

He added that businessman Bobby Myers has also expressed an interest in the constituency.

“He [Myers] has been speaking and he has been indicating that he will be willing to offer himself,” said Spencer.

However, Spencer reiterated that the party has protocols for the selection of aspiring candidates.

“Just going around and saying publicly on the platform that you are offering yourself, that is not the process. What will happen is the National Executive Council (NEC) will have to develop certain parameters, and when we are ready an announcement will be made and a timeline made for persons to submit their applications,” he explained.

He said the party has five aspirants in St Elizabeth South Western, which became vacant following the death of former candidate Ewan Stephenson.

Councillor Mugabe Kilimanjaro (People’s National Party, Ipswich Division) said the party needs to focus on getting its supporters in the Myersville Division to come out and vote in the upcoming local government election.

“The four divisions in the constituency are outright controlled by the Jamaica Labour Party – Junction and Southfield. Malvern is a borderline division, and whoever wins it never wins by more than 200 votes max, so even if we were to win the Malvern Division, that would add about 200 votes. But the Labourites are winning Junction and Southfield by such wide margins that the only hope we have of winning [the constituency] is if we win the Myersville Division by the margin that we know we can win by,” he stated.

Former Member of Parliament for St Elizabeth South Eastern Richard Parchment said, “The ground is shifting towards the PNP.”

“I have been in Westmoreland, Manchester, St Catherine, Portland, and St Ann with the leader [Mark Golding], and I can tell you that the PNP boat is sailing, and, Comrades, I want to ensure that St Elizabeth South East is caught up in that wave as well,” he said.

Councillor Donovan Pagon (PNP, Brae’s River Division), who will not be contesting the upcoming local government election, said the party needs to gain ground in divisions which are controlled by the sJLP.

“Myersville is safe, nuh worry about Myersville, but you see Malvern and Brompton [St Elizabeth South Western], those two are borderline divisions, and if we take dem back wi control council,” he said.

He added that the PNP can win other divisions now controlled by the JLP once the party pulls out its supporters on election day.

“We need to win back council and we want Myersville fi win early so Myersville can go help a Junction, Southfield, and Malvern,” he said.