SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth – Chairman of the People’s National Party (PNP) Region Five Kern Spencer and lawyer Zuleika Jess have intensified their campaigns to represent the Opposition party in St Elizabeth North Eastern at the next parliamentary election.

In recent months both had suggested their interest in contesting the seat, which has since led to them apply to be the party’s representative. They have ramped up their campaigns in recent weeks.

“I can confirm that I have submitted an application to represent the party in that seat,” Jess told the Jamaica Observer last week.

When contacted, Spencer was hesitant to confirm that he had applied. However, the Sunday Observer was told that up to the February 6 deadline for applications to be submitted, Jess and Spencer had applied to represent the PNP in St Elizabeth North Eastern.

In January, after two sitting PNP councillors Everton Fisher and Audie Myers told the Observer that they had thrown their weight behind Jess, Spencer claimed that he has the “overwhelming support” of Comrades in St Elizabeth North Eastern.

“The delegates of the constituency have been asking me to be their standard bearer again and I have been listening to them and I am internalising it in my mind,” Spencer had said.

Jess told the Sunday Observer that she is surprised at the “overwhelming” support she has been receiving since she started her campaign in the constituency.

“I certainly did not expect this kind of support and so very quickly at that. It has really been phenomenal, it has been a very warm reception,” she said.

Jess, who lost to the ruling Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) giant Mike Henry in the 2020 parliamentary election in Clarendon Central, said she is not seeking to bring disunity among Comrades.

“… On my part, I think my actions would have demonstrated that notwithstanding the results of any particular event… there certainly will be no disruption,” she said.

Long considered a stronghold of the PNP, St Elizabeth North Eastern was lost to the ruling Jamaica Labour Party’s Delroy Slowley in 2020 — among the shock results of that election, which the JLP won by a landslide.

Jess said the constituency wants a “fresh start” apparently in relation to Kern Spencer who won St Elizabeth North Eastern for the PNP in 2007. Spencer was forced to walk away from competitive politics in the build-up to the 2011 elections following corruption charges – which were eventually dismissed – related to the so-called Cuban light bulb scandal.

“… I was approached by the majority of the leadership within the constituency to represent north east St Elizabeth as the PNP standard bearer. There were numerous factors that would have led to their decision to engage with me in that respect and one of those factors was that they felt that I offered a fresh face to the political landscape within the constituency that my character and really just my personality were suitable for the seat,” she said.

“I am happy to have accepted the invitation, I am very humbled to receive the support of the leadership within the constituency and I am grateful for all the assistance that they have been giving in terms of ensuring that there is a victory at the end of this process,” she added.