Eyes on St Andrew East Rural

With preliminary results indicating that the Kintyre division, which falls in St Andrew East Rural, may have decided the balance of power in the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC), the Electoral Office of Jamaica has decided to conduct the final count of ballots at its head office at 43 Duke Street, Kingston.

The ballots for the five divisions were transferred from the counting centre in Gordon Town yesterday, following Monday’s local government election. The count will begin this morning.

The Kintyre Division, which falls in St Andrew East Rural, was the only one to change hands after the PNP’s Vivienne Brown-Bond beat the JLP’s Kelvin Clarke by 1,288.

If the preliminary results hold, the popular vote is likely to determine which party controls the KSAMC. The PNP appears to have won the popular vote with 64,930 over the JLP that got 50,254.

St Andrew East Rural is represented in the House of Representatives by Juliet Holness of the JLP. The PNP’s standard-bearer in the constituency is attorney-at-law Patrick Peterkin.

Division: Kintyre

Vivienne Brown-Bond - PNP - 1,317

Kelvin Clarke - JLP - 1,288

Victory to PNP’s Brown-Bond by 29

Division: Harbour View

Horace Clue - PNP - 1,395

Wade Brown - JLP - 514

Victory to PNP’s Clue by 881

Division: Dallas

Mario Harley - JLP - 1,670

Ahkeev Black - PNP - 1,503

Victory to the JLP’s Harley by 167 votes

Division: Mavis Bank

Lloyd Benjamin - JLP - 1,282

Paul Meek - PNP - 1,261

Victory to the JLP’s Benjamin by 21

Division: Gordon Town

Neville Whittaker - JLP - 1,488

Michael Simms - PNP - 1,196

Victory to the JLP’s by 292

Popular vote:

PNP: 6,672

JLP: 6,242