TWO People’s National Party (PNP) candidates are heading to court after losing in their divisions by very close margins in the official vote count following Monday’s local government elections.

The PNP’s Everton Shakes lost in the Southboro Division in St Catherine East Central by three votes. According to final vote count results provided by the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) on Wednesday, the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Damara Lawson edged out Shakes with 1,008 to his 1,005 votes.

Shakes told the Jamaica Observer that he would be seeking a magisterial recount and that his legal team “is presently doing the necessary documentation, so by tomorrow [Friday] we should have a date as to same.

“We are very confident that after the recount, we will be victorious on the day,” he said.

The other close result was in the Llandewey Division in St Thomas Western which saw the PNP’s Edwin Marr losing to the JLP’s Andrea Patience by seven votes. Patience took 1,316 votes, while Marr pulled in 1,309.

Marr, who told the Observer that his request for a magisterial recount is to be filed tomorrow (Friday), said he is not only displeased with the results, but is “totally disappointed in the way in which the entire election day process went”, hinting that dirty politics — vote buying/voter intimidation was involved.

“We will be going to the magisterial recount and to be honest, the electoral process, not only in my division but the parish, and the country must be looked into deeply. The voters in the country must be allowed to democratically exercise their right based on their honest assessment of the performance of his or her candidate, and not by the introduction of finances or promises made by anyone to divert the minds of individuals who intend to vote,” he said.

Marr also argued that there were blunders with the counting process, noting that he was fed varying results throughout the proceedings.

“On the night of the counting I was declared the winner. Within the space of an hour and a half, two hours, a new release came out that I am tied with my opponent. We went home [then] went to the official count on Tuesday and at the end of the official count, I led by four, and declared again the winner. Within 18 minutes, we were recalled by the centre to say to us that that is not the actual tally; I actually lost by seven votes. I am totally disappointed. It is a crazy process that needs to be looked into at the earliest possible time,” he said.

Marr is insisting, however, that he has won the division, and expressed disbelief that a JLP candidate could have pulled the number of votes his opponent did.

“I was confident that even at the close of the polls I would’ve won the election anyway, because there is no way my opponent could have garnered 1,300 votes. It has never happened in the history of the Llandewey Division [that] any JLP councillor has gone anything over 1,200 votes — never,” he said.

Additionally, the PNP’s Charles Clarke may also query his 28-vote loss to the JLP’s Kim Brown Lawrence in the Brown’s Town Division in St Ann North Western. Brown Lawrence raked in 1,030, and Clarke picked up 1,002.

Also, a 24-vote loss in the Borobridge Division in St Ann South Western may also prompt the PNP’s Winston Brown to seek a magisterial recount. He was surpassed by the JLP’s Marline Thompson Kinyon with 1,528. Brown got 1,504 votes.