Brown confident of securing another term

Dave Brown, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) incumbent candidate for Hanover Eastern, said his canvassing is ongoing and is confident of staving off the challenge of the People’s National Party’s (PNP) political representative and former West Indies cricketer Wavell Hinds when the ballots are counted on September 3.

“If I should compare where I was in 2016 to now, I would take some comfort from it, and I am confident that I will retain the seat for another term,” the first-term member of parliament said in an interview last Sunday. “I know my numbers, I know the number that is required and my canvas is showing those numbers.”

However, Hinds, who has been doing the rounds in the rural constituency for just about two years, is certain that the marginal seat will be returning to the PNP.

“The level of support has been great. I enjoy a family-like relationship with our executive and the general constituents,” Hinds said, in response to a series of questions following The Gleaner team’s visit recently.

“Canvassing is very telling and provide valuable data for proper planning and execution, I am confident of winning.”

Historically, the electorate in Hanover Eastern are known to express their dissatisfaction at the polls with the PNP getting the nod eight times, while the JLP was victorious on seven occasions, and once for an independent candidate since 1944. Hinds is convinced that the constituents will express their frustration at Brown’s poor performance.

“Personally, l have only experienced two years of his stewardship and it is pretty ordinary. I would rate his performance at two out of 10,” Hinds said.

Arnold Jackson of the JLP served as the political representative between 1962 and the 1972 general election, when he was unseated by the PNP’s Dr Aston King.

King repeated the feat against Basil Buck of the JLP with 150 votes in 1976, but was soundly beaten by Buck in the 1980 general election.

King would return in 1989, following the PNP’s boycott of the 1983 snap election, with a victory over Francis Jackson by 1,983 votes.

Former Tourism Minister Francis Tulloch replaced King for the 1993 general election, where he defeated Dr Horace Chang, the current national security minister, by 1,687 votes, and in 1997, the PNP’s Canute Brown beat Buck by 1,392 votes.

Two new contenders offered themselves in 2002, with Barrington Gray of the JLP beating former Lucea Mayor Lloyd Hill by 755 votes.

In 2007, Dr D.K. Duncan of the PNP beat Gray by a mere 10 votes in a magisterial recount, and he was returned in 2011 after beating attorney-at-law Paula Kerr-Jarrett by 251 votes.

In the 2016 contest, Brown received 6,380 votes to beat the then councillor of the Chester Castle division and former Mayor of Lucea Wynter McIntosh by 334 votes.