Supporters of Delano Seiveright in St Andrew North Central staged a protest Monday to express their displeasure with the Jamaica Labour Party’s handling of a selection exercise to find a replacement for outgoing party representative in the constituency, Member of Parliament Karl Samuda.

Seiveright had applied for the position, with reported backing from Samuda, but Christian Tavares-Finson also declared his interest in the JLP safe seat. Christian is the son of prominent attorney, Tom Tavares-Finson, who is also president of the Senate and a reported Holness loyalist.

It led to a rift inside the JLP and, as a result, the party made both aspirants withdraw their applications, stating after a meeting of its central executive on Sunday that the move is to allow for a resetting of the process of finalising a representative.

The statement from the party also noted that both Seiveright and Tavares-Finson have committed to having their supporters respect the party’s rules and regulations and to act in the interest of party unity.

However, placard-bearing Seiveright supporters took to the streets on Monday morning to hit out at the decision.

“Prime minister, you can’t parachute someone on us overnight, we want Delano Seiveright, which is right,” said one protester.

The protesters also warned that they could withhold their votes in the next general election if Seiveright is not given the nod to succeed Samuda.

“No Delano, no vote,” one of the placards stated.

**Video by Llewellyn Wynter**