INDEPENDENT candidate for the St Andrew North Western constituency Rohan Banks told the Jamaica Observer on Monday that he has withdrawn from the by-election to be held on November 22.

The contest is being held to fill the seat left vacant by former MP Dr Nigel Clarke, who resigned at the end of last month to take up a deputy managing director position with the International Monetary Fund.

Banks, who previously ran on a People’s National Party (PNP) ticket in the 2020 General Election, told the Jamaica Observer on Monday that he is pulling out of the race to make way for another PNP-affiliated independent candidate, Carl Marshall, a former speaker of the House. Both were nominated on November 6.

“The reason why I was running is because I saw North West St Andrew as my family and my own constituency, and I wanted them to have representation. So, because the PNP was not contesting the election I offered myself. Now seeing that Carl Marshall is also running and [he] was former chairman for the constituency for many years and a lovable guy, I’m giving him the opportunity to run by himself [so] that there’s no confusion in the constituency,” Banks said.

Marshall, who was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1993 to 1997, will now run against Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate for the constituency, Duane Smith, a three-term councillor for the Chancery Hall Division.

And with just a few days left for campaigning, it remains to be seen if Marshall will be able to better Banks’s performance during the 2020 General election where he garnered 1,213 of the 3,527 votes when he went up against Clarke, who raked in 2,271 votes.

Banks, who said he would be supporting his counterpart in his campaign, expressed confidence in Marshall, noting that “after giving everything careful consideration I realised Carl Marshall is a good guy and he is loved [in the constituency]”.

“I don’t want to split the vote between me and Carl Marshall; I just don’t see it necessary. I would never have offered myself if I knew Carl Marshall was running,” he said, adding that it was only when they both went to the Electoral Office of Jamaica ( EOJ) the same day, almost two weeks ago, that he realised Marshall was also contesting the election.

In the meantime, addressing the notion that he is withdrawing from the race because he could not beat Smith, whose father, Derrick, was an eight-term MP for the constituency, Barnes asserted that he is not speculating on the issue.

“The reality of it is [people] are used to me on a PNP ticket… I never had [it] in mind to run as an independent. The only reason why I was running as an independent was to ensure that persons know in northwest St Andrew that I’m still there for them regardless. And if Carl Marshall is there, I just leave Carl to run for the seat. I never gave that much thought about winning or losing as an independent. If it was a PNP ticket, that would be a different story,” he said, while also dismissing any speculation that he would be expelled from the party if he ran as an independent.

Barnes also insisted that he had entered the race as an independent to show that the constituency “is not a dictatorship or a JLP state”.

The former candidate noted that he would soon formally advise the EOJ as well as his supporters in the constituency of his withdrawal.