Political historian Tony Myers hailed as statistical whiz
Published:Wednesday | March 9, 2022 | 12:10 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
The late political historian Anthony Myers has been lauded by the People's National Party (PNP) for stalwart service and for his statistical and analytic prowess in assessing and predicting electoral outcomes.
Myers, who was chronically ill, passed away on February 22.
He died at the age of 79, leaving behind son Peter Myers and daughter Dr Lisa Myers-Morgan, who was his principal caregiver in retirement.
Myers, who worked closely with the PNP for more than 40 years, examined voting patterns and trends in Jamaica's 60 – and later 63 – constituencies and composed constituency profiles that were published in The Gleaner.
Maxine Henry-Wilson, a former government minister and current chairman of the PNP's Unity Committee, knew Myers for approximately five decades.
In 2012, Myers was contracted to work as research administrative officer in the Phillip Paulwell-led Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining.
A QUICK AND ANALYTICAL MIND
Recalling Myers' entry into the party in the financial management accounting section under the party secretariat, Henry-Wilson viewed him as a man with a quick and analytical mind who would later evolve into a producer of statistics on electoral concerns.
He particularly concentrated on election outcome comparisons and, according to Henry-Wilson, was one of the first people to produce such data and keep that information up to date.
“He used it to guide the party organisation [and] was very knowledgeable about it,” she said.
One of Henry-Wilson's fondest memories of Myers was of him recounting an excursion to the house of a grandmother who lived in south Manchester and always had election predictions.
ELECTION PREDICTIONS WERE OFTEN ON POINT
Myers' predictions were often on point, with his call for the 1997 general election almost being true to form. He projected for The Gleaner that the PNP would win 48 seats to the Jamaica Labour Party's 11, and the National Democratic Movement's single victory.
The final result was 50 seats for the PNP and 10 for the JLP.
“According to him, he went to look for his grandmother down in Manchester and came back with what she said in terms of election results. I don't know if he wanted us to take it seriously, but he always just said, 'I just visit my grandmother, you know, and you know what she tell me?' And we would all laugh around him,” Henry-Wilson, a former PNP general secretary, recalled.
“He was a solid stalwart, Comrade, always in defence of the party and what it stood for, and always making a contribution in whatever way he could,” she added.