MONTEGO BAY, St James — Even as he declared that he was awaiting the official count in Salt Spring, St James before conceding that he had lost the division, the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Sylvan Reid on Tuesday alleged that vote-buying had played a major role in the results.

He said there is now disquiet in the division as some believe the victory by the Jamaica Labour Party’s Gregory Harris had not been earned.

“I am confident that vote-buying played about 98 per cent of it and then the other two per cent, we believe something went wrong,” Reid told the Jamaica Observer.

Vote-buying is illegal but the Observer has nothing to indicate that it occurred.

Harris, meanwhile, has rubbished Reid’s accusations.

“I have no idea as to what he is saying. Tell him that he cannot use what he does to try and put on me; we don’t do those things. I don’t even want to entertain that,” he insisted.

“What we do is to do our canvas, our enumerations. We know who our voters are and on the day we go and we take them out. That is how we operate,” he added.

In preliminary results based on data from Electoral Office of Jamaica, with 27 of 29 boxes counted, Harris had bested Reid by 237 votes. According to Reid, he will decide on his political future once the final results are in.

“I will see later what happens and then I will make a decision,” he told the Observer.

In 2016 both men were separated by 19 votes but a magisterial recount later determined that Reid was the winner. He was, however, booted from St James Municipal Corporation in 2020 on the grounds that he had missed three consecutive meetings without providing a valid reason. Monday’s vote was his chance to redeem himself with the voters who, he said before the polls, had encouraged him to contest the seat. Now, he said, they will also have a say in what he does next after the official results come in.

“Anything the people say is what I’ll do,” Reid stated.

He told the Observer that his supporters were devastated at the preliminary results that indicated his loss to Harris.

“It’s terrible, it’s devastating for the people knowing that they put out everything to ensure that it works,” Reid said.

“The poll was showing that I was leading in two polls and the people turned out in a way that I’ve never seen it before; they just can’t understand,” he added.

He said they had put in the work to secure his victory and they are in disbelief at the result.

“Our operation on the ground was unprecedented and unquestionable. Nobody at all would believe what we heard last night would be the result. We are trying to figure out what went wrong,” Reid said.

He is now worried that areas which supported his candidacy, especially Meggie Top, could be sidelined by those on the other side of the political divide.

“That area would always be suffering for water and for different amenities for their community. Now that’s my disappointment because there are other aspects of the division, when I was there, that voted green every time and we still go in there and do work for the people,” he stated.

“My gut is now telling me that we are looking down a barrel of almost four years of sufferation for the people of Salt Spring if the results are not changed,” added Reid.