Holness’ seat under scrutiny as PNP eyes election court

The People’s National Party (PNP) has begun laying the groundwork for a legal challenge to overturn the electoral victory of Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Leader Dr Andrew Holness in St Andrew West Central, insiders have disclosed.

Already, the PNP has been recording affidavits and collecting other evidence from several individuals, some of whom were in the constituency on Election Day, hoping to bolster their claim that the process there was tainted by irregularities, according to one insider.

But senior figures in the JLP have slammed the actions of the PNP as “sour grapes”, “baseless”, and “frivolous” and insisted that no report of irregularity has been made to any designated electoral authority in the constituency Holness has represented since 1997.

Director of Elections Glasspole Brown told The Gleaner on Wednesday that the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) has not received any report of irregularities in the constituency.

The JLP won the September 3 General Elections, securing 35 of the 63 seats in the Lower House. The PNP won the remaining 28.

Holness won St Andrew West Central, tallying 7,054 votes to 4,953 for his PNP challenger, Paul Buchanan.

The margin of victory has stirred wide public discussion because the JLP leader was trailing Buchanan by close to 100 votes after 87 of the 105 ballot boxes had been counted.

The 18 outstanding ballot boxes were from polling stations located at Seaward Gardens Primary and Infant School, the director of election confirmed.

PNP President Mark Golding told journalists on Thursday that the “nature of the irregularities which took place” in St Andrew West Central is being carefully scrutinised in anticipation of a case being brought before the Constituted Authority for appropriate relief”.

The Constituted Authority, which is appointed prior to an election, has the power to, among other things, request that the Election Court void an election and hold a fresh one if there are malpractices.

Golding did not disclose details of the irregularities and declined to comment further during a press conference at the PNP’s St Andrew headquarters.

“I won’t be able to answer any questions about that today as the matter is with our lawyers,” he said.

But Kamina Johnson Smith, chairman of the JLP manifesto and achievements committee, insisted that there was nothing unusual about the vote count from the final 18 ballot boxes and that Holness’ 2,000-plus margin of victory mirrors what has happened in the constituency “consistently since 2002”.

“In respect of the Seaward Primary polling stations, which were the last ones to come in, … they are not winning boxes this election. Every election, the electors who vote in Seaward Primary polling stations vote overwhelmingly in support of their preferred candidate, Andrew Michael Holness,” she said.

“And the PNP, in those polling stations, generally doesn’t even get 100 votes.”

Further, Johnson Smith said the JLP has been advised that the EOJ’s election centre, where representatives of both major political parties sit, along with several wide-ranging independent representatives, received “absolutely no complaint about any irregularity”.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com