JLP’s Lorne aims for 2,500 votes in PNP bastion

Maureen Lorne insists that when the ballots are counted in St Andrew South Western on election night, Jamaicans will witness the unmistakable writing on the wall: a PNP stronghold of nearly four decades is on its way back to the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

In the 2020 General Election, Lorne managed just 628 votes against Dr Angela Brown Burke’s commanding 7,050. This time, however, she has set herself a bold target.

“I want to get four times the number of votes I got in 2020, and I am getting the feedback, which makes me confident that that will happen,” she declared.

Over the last five elections, the JLP has secured a combined 3,104 votes in the constituency, its best showing being 702 in 2016, with Victor Hyde on its ticket. Should Lorne meet her goal, she would land in the vicinity of 2,500 votes, which would be a major boost for the party in a PNP stronghold.

“What would be a win for me is for the people to open their eyes and wake up and see that nothing has been done for the last 35 years under the regime of the PNP,” Lorne told The Gleaner.

She insists that the tide is beginning to turn.

“Some of them are still sleeping, but to my surprise, a lot of them wake up. A lot of them saying they want good for their children and grandchildren,” she said.

The seat has been in the PNP’s grip since 1976, when former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller stunned the JLP by seizing what was once considered one of its safest territories.

MAJOR TURNAROUND IN 1976

In the 1972 election, Wilton Hill of the JLP got 7,261 while the PNP’s Jason Gordon got 4,020. By 1976, Simpson Miller turned things around, getting 13,584 votes to the JLP’s Joseph McPherson’s 4,367 votes.

Except for the PNP’s boycott of the 1983 election, the seat has not left the PNP’s hands since.

Brown Burke, now PNP chairman, took over in 2017 after Simpson Miller’s retirement and has continued the party’s dominance in the area.

For Lorne, who was born and raised in the constituency, decades of PNP leadership have not translated into development for the communities.

“They say it’s a PNP stronghold, yet nothing has been done in it,” said Lorne, a religious leader.

St Andrew South Western comprises three divisions: Payne Land, Whitfield Town, and Greenwich Town. Some 27,055 persons are on the voters’ list.

Lorne said she has been actively pounding the pavement, knocking on doors and talking to people at various places in the communities, hoping to win their support. She is confident that her efforts will be justly rewarded.

“I go house to house with my team. I don’t just send them out. A lot of people know me. I was born and raised here, but over the years, things have got worse to the point where I am ashamed when I look around my community,” she said.

Meanwhile, the parliamentary hopeful credits the JLP government, particularly the de facto water minister, Matthew Samuda, with implementing one of the most impactful projects seen by the constituency.

“Persons in areas such as Greenwich Town, South Avenue, East Avenue, North and Central Avenues had to get up 4:30 in the mornings to go to Rose Town to full their buckets and bottles and carry it on handcart to get water to shower and cook,” Lorne said.

Now, she said that residents enjoy reliable, potable water – a development that she insists has transformed lives. She also believes it sends a message to voters in the constituency that the Andrew Holness-led JLP is serious about community building.

“I was proud, knowing my party, no matter if it is a PNP or JLP area, they are doing something for my community,” she said.

Lorne, while not necessarily banking on a stunning upset in the PNP heartland, is confident that the JLP, which has been in power since 2016, will be given a third term in office by Jamaicans.

“I’m saying that I know that we are going to win the election nationally because we have an aim and a desire, and we are for the poor,” she said.

karen.madden@gleanerjm.com