Sister Flop ... Duncan sisters fail in their history making bid

The Duncan sisters, Imani and Patricia, who both ran on the People's National Party's (PNP) ticket, failed in their bid to replace their father in the House of Representatives after being rejected by the electorate during yesterday's general election.

Imani Duncan-Price and Patricia Duncan Sutherland are the daughters of PNP stalwart, Donald Keith Duncan, who walked away from representational politics late last year.

The younger sibling, Duncan Price, lost out to Juliet Holness, wife of prime minister designate Andrew Holness, in East Rural St Andrew after garnering 9,482 votes to the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) representative's 10,172.

Duncan Sutherland received the Xs of 9,074 electors in South East Clarendon, but that was not enough to unseat the JLP's Rudyard Spencer, who received 10,045 votes.

The PNP's loss in the South East Clarendon reaffirmed the JLP's dominance in the constituency, which the party has lost in only two contested elections.

Only Peter Bunting, who defeated former Prime Minister Hugh Shearer by 1,443 votes in 1993; and Basil Burrell, who won in 1997, have to date been successful on a PNP ticket since the constituency was created in 1959.

Duncan-Price was aiming to retain the East Rural St Andrew seat for the PNP having replaced former junior tourism minister Damion Crawford in the constituency.

Crawford triumphed in the 2011 general election by 214 votes, but lost out to Peter Blake in an internal-candidate selection in October 2015.

Blake was, however, asked by the PNP to make way for Duncan-Price, as the party opted for someone they thought could unite the factions, but this did not yield the desired result.

Both sisters worked in the private sector, where Duncan-Price served as the chief strategy manager at the Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) Group, while Duncan-Sutherland was the executive director of business operations, before they decided to enter representational politics.

ryon.jones@gleanerjm.com