JLP considering application by George Wright to rejoin the party

The ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is to decide on an application by Member of Parliament George Wright to rejoin the party he resigned from more than three years ago under a cloud of suspicion.

“He has applied, and it will be considered in the normal routine,” confirmed Dr Horace Chang, the JLP’s general secretary.

He said the decision will be made “quickly” as general elections are due by September.

Wright was elected MP for Westmoreland Central in September 2020 on a JLP ticket.

He resigned from the party in June 2021 amid public pressure to step down as a lawmaker after a video emerged in April that year showing a man beating a woman with a stool.

Though Wright never confirmed or denied that he was the person in the video, he and his then-partner filed separate police reports about a physical altercation that took place on April 6, 2021. The case was closed after the two did not pursue the complaints.

Wright married the woman after a year of counselling, Chang told The Gleaner on Friday. “That will be taken into consideration. If the membership committee accepts his membership and he applies to be a candidate, it will go through the normal process.”

Wright has been sitting as an independent member of the House of Representatives, although he said he supports the policies of the JLP administration.

Last September, Wright said he had “grown past” the allegation. “The people see me as their hard-working elected official and they treat me as such,” he had said.

- Tanesha Mundle

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