PLOWDEN, Manchester — Member of Parliament for Manchester Southern Robert Chin says while he has faced challenges in remaining the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) representative for the constituency in the upcoming parliamentary election, he is unfazed.

“At this point I am still the JLP’s representative. Like in any democratic organisation, you have persons who believe that probably the crown would be better on their head, but there are always challenges,” Chin told the Jamaica Observer on Wednesday in Plowden.

Last month Chin, a first-term Member of Parliament (MP), faced a vote by delegates regarding whether he should continue in the constituency for the next election. Of the delegates who voted, 176 said yes while 108 said no.

“Every single year we have to elect or re-elect a leader of the party [JLP]… In recent times you might have known that there was a yes-no vote to decide whether the delegates/workers of the party wanted me to continue, and I won that very convincingly. Since then, somebody else resurfaced so we will wait on the outcome of that — if the party will allow another challenge at this time,” he said.

When asked about the Grove Town Division where the majority of delegates there said no to him as the JLP’s representative, Chin claimed there was a negative campaign against him.

“I did not campaign for the delegates’ votes because if I had to campaign to my own workers I would find it distasteful… There was somebody there doing a negative campaign — saying that a no vote will be a vote for them — and of course they got some traction, and they got some negative votes. And what really happened is that how they sold the vote to the workers was that they are going to vote out the MP,” he said.

“When they sold it like that, the majority of those who support me did not turn out because they were not coming to vote out the MP. There was a serious campaign that I was not involved in — that is why they got away so badly in the Grove Town Division,” added Chin.

When asked about potential challengers, including businessman and party promoter Adion Peart, Chin responded with confidence.

“Adion Peart is a non-issue. I would say that because if you look at him and his track record, he was campaigning as the party candidate for the PNP and they rejected him soundly. He is young, he is excited, but he needs to learn some patience,” said Chin.

“It was not his time in the PNP so he jumped ship to the JLP. It is still not his time but he is continuing forward as if he is a candidate…. who I heard of is Ian Hinds, he is a businessman from the Alligator Pond Division. He is more favourable than Adion Peart but he is no match for me,” added Chin.

News of Peart’s political switch of allegiance was widespread in the lead-up to the local government election last February as his brother, Ryan Peart, contested and won the Spur Tree Division in Manchester North Western. The constituency now represented by the PNP’s Mikael Phillips was the seat for Dean Peart. His brother and former House Speaker Michael Peart served as Member of Parliament in the adjoining constituency of Manchester Southern.

Chin said he is prepared to contend for the seat internally, if necessary.

“I am 100 per cent committed to this seat. I have done my best with the resources that I have — and I don’t think anybody else could have done better with the resources — so I gave it 100 per cent. But, the work isn’t completed and I am here to complete that work,” he said.

Chin created a political upset when he unseated Michael Stewart of the PNP by 890 votes in the September 3, 2020 General Election. Chin polled 6,826 votes to Stewart’s 5,936.

Back in 2016, Stewart won the seat comfortably by 1,176 votes — polling 8,398 to the JLP’s Hidran McKulsky’s 7,222 votes.

Chin was parachuted into the constituency as a late replacement for former JLP standard-bearer Junior Robinson who bowed out one week before nomination day.

Prior to the September 2020 General Election, the last time the JLP won Manchester Southern in a contested poll was in 1980. The seat was retained in the snap parliamentary election of 1983 which was not contested by the PNP.

Now, Chin is confident he can stave off PNP heavyweight Peter Bunting, who has been the party’s aspirant for Manchester Southern for more than one year.

“I don’t like speaking about my opponent but if and when that election day comes and I am against Peter Bunting, I will beat him soundly. He has a track record of leaving constituencies. The Manchester Central voters rejected him so he is here now and he is not very liked, I can tell you that,” said Chin.

“People will vote for him because of the party; it [constituency] is a strong PNP area for 31 years so, of course, he will get some party votes but in terms of wanting him to be the representative, he won’t get a lot of votes on the day. The base will come out, surely, but I am not looking at any additional votes because of Peter Bunting. As a matter of a fact, I am gaining PNP votes right now because of Peter Bunting so it is a very interesting event to look forward to,” he added.

Bunting lost to Rhoda Moy Crawford in Manchester Central in the last general election. Crawford polled 8,139 votes to Bunting’s 6,989.

Chin is appealing to his constituents to be patient, even as he cited the geographically large size of the Manchester Southern constituency.

“My left boundary is St Elizabeth, my right boundary is Clarendon, and I have about five constituencies that I border with — that is a massive area. It is the largest constituency in the parish, probably the second or third in Jamaica. It is the only constituency with three electoral offices to cover the land mass so that is how big and wide it is,” he said.

“Taking over from 31 years of neglect and basically little or nothing being done with the infrastructure, I met two kinds of roads: horrible and poor. That is why I have spent more money on roads than in the last 31 years of a PNP Administration.

“People look at the work that I have done but some people will look at what needs to be done, and they are not happy. But, it cannot be done in a term and it cannot be done with the limited resources that are allocated to MPs. There is not a day that I am not thinking about how to improve the lives and infrastructure in this constituency,” added Chin.