LITTLE LONDON, Westmoreland — The battle for the Little London Division in Westmoreland is likely to be one of the most intense when Jamaicans vote in local government elections in three weeks’ time.

The reason?

Councillor Ian Myles, who last year crossed the floor to join the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), will go up against his former campaign manager Oliver Reid.

According to Reid, he rejected Myles’ invitation to switch political allegiance with him, saying that he cannot fathom leaving the People’s National Party (PNP) for the JLP.

“When he decided to go over to the JLP, that is when I took the decision and said, ‘No, I can’t go on that side with you.’ I don’t really see myself supporting the Jamaica Labour Party. Up to those final days I was his campaign manager,” Reid, who had helped his friend to victory in the November 2016 Local Government Elections, told the Jamaica Observer in an interview.

Last July Myles, as well as councillors Lawton McKenzie (Grange Hill Division) and Garfield James (Sheffield Division), announced at a news conference that they had resigned from the PNP and declared themselves independent members of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation.

The trio left the PNP in protest against its decision to have Ian Hayles as the candidate for Westmoreland Western — the constituency in which their divisions sit — for the next parliamentary election, due in 2025.

Since then Lawton returned to the PNP, but left again after he was overlooked as the candidate for the February 26 local government poll, while James joined Myles and is now a member of the JLP.

In the recent Sunday Observer interview Myles boasted that he has managed to turn more than half of the PNP’s loyalists in the division.

“When I check my voters’ list, I have gone with more than 50 per cent of the PNP’s workers,” said Myles, an educator for more than 30 years at Little London High School.

However, Reid has another story.

“They have lost all trust in the present councillor,” Reid said.

But Myles, who described himself as a “simple man”, is going into the election brimming with confidence.

“This is gonna be one of the easiest election, truth be told. When you have loyalists who journey from the PNP to the JLP [and you have] our solid JLP-based [supporters], how do you bet against that person?” he questioned.

He said he is expecting an increase in voter turnout for the poll which, traditionally, is ignored by the majority of voters.

“The voter turnout at the last time would have been about 23 to 25 per cent; this time around we are expecting an uptick, maybe 30 to 35 per cent,” Myles predicted, while noting that he had garnered 1,186 votes at the last election against the JLP’s Dixieth Palmer.

Myles said the major challenges in the division are crime and violence, poor garbage collection, the parochial road network, and education.

Reid agreed, while adding poor street lighting to the list.

When asked why people should vote for him Myles spoke of the work he has done to have Little London become a business hub, generating income and wealth for the residents.

“Ian Myles has not changed; my work ethic remains the same. I have switched allegiance for a lot of reasons but my work precedes me — and that is unprecedented. What I have done in Westmoreland for seven years is unprecedented,” he said while stressing that the residents will not take that performance for granted.

His priority project, he said, will be to create a digital library as he believes the ability to read is extremely important and as such, students should not matriculate to primary school unless they have mastered the art. He is calling on donors, both locally and in the Diaspora, to support the initiative.

Meanwhile Reid, who was born and bred in Paul Island in the division, said he will be focusing on fixing the challenges outlined by residents who, he said, have assured him that they will give him their votes.