WESTMORELAND, Jamaica —Dr Garfield James, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate for Westmoreland Western, said the delay his party faced this morning in reaching the Gordon Hall nomination centre in Grange Hill on time was a result of delay tactics utilised by his opponent, Ian Hayles, who was nominated on a People’s National Party (PNP) ticket.

James, who was scheduled to be nominated anywhere between 11:30 and 12:15 am was nominated at 1:50 pm.

Similarly, Hayles, who lost his Hanover Western seat in the 2020 general election to a first-time politician, Tamika Davis, who ran on a JLP ticket,
was scheduled to be nominated anywhere between 10:00 and 10:45 this morning. However, he arrived way beyond the scheduled time and was nominated at 12:45 pm.

James alleged that the purpose of the tactics was to obstruct his nomination process.

“I’m only disappointed that my opponent chose to implement many strategies of intimidation this morning by directly using supporters to block the roads and try to dominate a particular space way outside of their own planning. All of those were a clear indication that there was a genuine plan set to offset or to obstruct our process of coming here to be nominated,” James told the media following his nomination on Monday.

James said the police had to intervene in getting the situation under control.

“I want to thank the Jamaica Constabulary Force team that came out to ensure that order was restored and motorists can go about their lawful business. Businesses are open for the public to carry out their respective duties and support,” stated James.

“So, I want to use this medium to encourage the opponent [that] while they campaign they must do so in a responsible way to ensure that we
can have a violence-free election because at the end of the day, we are working to serve a constituency,” added James.

Earlier in the day, Hayles told the Observer Online that an unexpected turnout of supporters on the road attributed to the delay in his keeping his scheduled time to be nominated.

James has replaced the first-term MP Morland Wilson, who won the seat on a JLP ticket in 2020.

In the 2020 general election, Wilson received 6,148 votes to defeat the PNP’s Dr Wykeham McNeill, who obtained 5,095 votes.

One unexpected independent candidate, Bilbert Lancaster James was nominated this morning at 10:20 while a representative of the Jamaica Progressive Party (JPP), Bertland Madden was nominated at 12:20 pm.

— Anthony Lewis