WESTMORELAND, Jamaica — It promises to be an interesting day at the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation today, with two councillors claiming to be the deputy mayor.

On Friday, Ian Myles (independent, Little London Division), who was controversially voted in as deputy mayor on July 13, cut a ribbon and moved into the office that comes with the title. This despite word that an injunction had been filed to keep him from taking up the post and written instructions from Mayor Bertel Moore that while he is on vacation he has left in charge Danree Delancy, who had been ousted to make way for Myles.

The controversy is expected to spill over into an August monthly meeting of the corporation which is typically on summer break at that time of the year.

These manoeuvrings are just the latest moves in a chess match that began with infighting within the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) that has spilled over into a power struggle for control of the municipal corporation.

Moore, who is councillor for the Negril Division, is a member of the PNP. Myles, who represents the Little London Division, was elected on a PNP ticket but is one of three councillors who resigned from the party to register their objection to Ian Hayles representing the PNP in Westmoreland Western during the next general election. Moore had been expected to be the fourth resignation that day, but he did not join Myles, Garfield James (Sheffield Division), and Lawton McKenzie (Grange Hill Division) at the press conference. With the resignations, the PNP now has five seats in the municipal corporation, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has four, and three councillors are independent.

Moore has been walking a tightrope since the resignations as speculation swirls about his next move. At the July 13 meeting of the corporation, the three independent councillors voted with the four who had been elected on a JLP ticket to remove Delancy in a no-confidence vote that they said was based on non-performance. Minister of Local Government and Community Development Desmond McKenzie was among those watching from the sidelines as the councillors argued over who was right based on existing legislation.

Ultimately Mayor Moore ruled that the legislation allowed Myles to be voted in as deputy mayor. But a document has surfaced indicating that an injunction was filed in the Supreme Court on July 27 barring Myles from taking office. He has shrugged off the document, questioning its authenticity as he enumerated the long list of tasks he intends to tackle in his role as deputy mayor. He has also been consistent in a narrative that gives the impression that he is working closely with Moore.

“I have been here working in support of the mayor, but today I’m making it official. This that you would have seen is an official opening or taking control of my office, and this will be done in his [Mayor Moore’s] absence until he returns,” stated Myles on Friday.