Fight for JLP ticket in Clarendon North Western, Manchester Southern goes to delegates March 16
Published:Sunday | March 9, 2025 | 9:08 AM
The battle to represent the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in Clarendon North Western and Manchester Southern will go to delegates for a vote on March 16, a key step in determining the party representatives for general elections due by September.
The party set the selection date after most of the contenders met senior officials on March 3.
Former senator, Warren Newby; attorney Corey Dunkley, and educator Dr Clovis Nelson are vying to be the party’s standard-bearer in Clarendon North Western. Dunkley and Newby confirmed the date.
Businessman Ian Ives, contractor and entertainment promoter Adion ‘Diamond Finger’ Peart are seeking to challenge incumbent JLP MP Robert Chin for Manchester Southern.
The party is racing to finalise representation for several constituencies. While the secretariat has advised the contenders of the dates, they could argue for a later time, an official said.
In January, JLP delegates in Manchester Southern voted to retain Chin as the party’s candidate, but concerns remain regarding his ability to hold on to the seat.
JLP insiders believe Chin, whose 2020 victory broke the People’s National Party’s (PNP) grip on the constituency, is in trouble, with some pointing out the signals are clear after he lost the yes/no vote in Grove Town, the party’s strongest division within the constituency.
There is also the external pressure from PNP representative Senator Peter Bunting, who journeyed to the constituency after his shock 2020 defeat in neighbouring Manchester Central.
Newby, 47, has the backing of key JLP councillors and caretakers in the Clarendon North Western constituency, many of whom have sharply criticised the tenure of outgoing JLP MP Phillip Henriques.
“We have had just about a month reacquainting ourselves with the workers and residents,” Newby told The Sunday Gleaner last week. “We have been given a list with greater than 800 persons. My team will review, and we will make a full statement in a few days.”
LONG-TIME POLITICAL OPERATOR
Newby is a long-time political operator, having served as campaign manager for three JLP parliamentarians – Michael Stern, Gregory Mair, and Zavia Mayne. He was a senator and junior minister in the Bruce Golding administration (2007-2011) but saw his political rise stall after backing Audley Shaw in the 2013 leadership challenge against current party leader and prime minister, Dr Andrew Holness.
Dunkley, 31, hails from a prominent political family with deep roots in Clarendon. His grandfather, Gladstone Dunkley, served as councillor for the Frankfield division in the 1980s, while his uncle, Kenrick Dunkley, was a former Thompson Town councillor. Another uncle, Errol Dunkley, was the MP for Clarendon North Central (1989-1993).
Dunkley did not respond to a request for comment.
Dr Clovis Nelson is an educator with vast experience in the United States school system and serves as executive director of Refuge of Jamaica.
Newby has the backing of Clive Mundle, councillor for the Frankfield division and deputy mayor of Clarendon; Collin Henry, councillor for the Thompson Town division; and Kamiel Marshall, councillor-caretaker for the Ritchies division. They argue that Newby’s political experience and long-standing presence in the constituency make him the best choice to help the JLP retain the seat.
“Newby has been in this constituency since 2007. He was the campaign manager for Michael Stern, who was successful in that election in 2007. So, the people already know him,” said Mundle in January.
Dunkley, however, has pushed back against criticisms about his experience and visibility, stating that he has been actively working in the constituency for almost a year.
“It may be because they’re not taking note of my actual actions and achievements within the constituency as yet, which is understandable,” he said last month.
He has been getting support from some of the workers, who have argued that Newby already had his opportunity to represent the party.
NEEDS FIRM LEADERSHIP
Nelson has argued that Clarendon North Western has been his “home” since he was a toddler and that it now needs firm leadership.
“Through the years, I’ve seen a lot of misrepresentation happening there. I’ve seen a lot of things go haywire. There is a lot of waywardness among youth. The constituency lacks serious commerce and infrastructure development,” he told Nationwide News Network on February 4. He said while he has a residence in the US, he is in Jamaica “more than 80 per cent of the time”.
Henriques, who announced that he would not seek re-election due to personal and business reasons, has faced intense criticism from local JLP leadership.
“If he was supposed to give us a trophy for worst-performing MP, I think he would win that trophy. And I make no apology for it,” Mundle said in January, accusing him of neglecting roads and other farming needs in the rural constituency. The outgoing MP has rejected those claims, attributing the attacks to “political agendas” within the party.
The Clarendon North Western seat has grown increasingly competitive in recent election cycles. While historically a JLP stronghold, the party’s grip has loosened since 2002, when Carl Stone lost to the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Richard Azan. The JLP reclaimed the seat in 2007, but Azan won it back in 2011 and 2016 in tightly contested races. The JLP took hold again in 2020.
Azan is back as the PNP’s representative.
The JLP’s push to complete selections has intensified amid disquiet among some Labourites over the approach being taken.
Last week, the JLP secretariat announced that it had recommended former Kingston Mayor Delroy Williams as the candidate for Clarendon Central, a move that would secure a so-called safe seat for a key lieutenant of Holness.
It is one of the seats where the party has sought to delicately handle the transition, as outgoing MP Mike Henry had endorsed May Pen Mayor Joel Williams to replace him.
Questions still linger over St Andrew North Central, Manchester North Eastern, St Andrew Eastern, St James West Central, and Westmoreland Western.