'September 3 is a formality', says a confident Isat Buchanan
Published:Monday | August 18, 2025 | 4:57 PM
People’s National Party (PNP) candidate for East Portland, Isat Buchanan, is predicting victory at the polls come September 3, stating that the exercise is just a "formality".
Buchanan, an attorney, is a newcomer to representational politics, who is seeking to wrest the Portland East seat from the incumbent Ann-Marie Vaz - a seat, which Vaz has held since the 2019 by-elections, following the tragic death of former Member of Parliament, Dr Lynvale Bloomfield.
“September 3rd is a formality. I can tell you this; I am the next Member of Parliament for Portland Eastern," Buchanan commented.
He is promising that he will make lands available to residents of the constituency.
“I believe that when families have land and they can pass on land by succession, it breaks the poverty gap. I have been assisting the people with obtaining titles for their land, which they have occupied for a very long time. And I just want to be able to complete that process.
“The great divide is financial literacy as well as getting titles in the hands of people, who have been on lands for a very long time and they own it by virtue of adverse possession and Recreational Holdings Limited and I have been assisting them," he concluded.
The PNP last won the East Portland seat in 2016 when the late Bloomfield defeated Derron Wood of the Jamaica Labour Party. Back then, Bloomfield polled 8,580 votes to Woods' 6,345.
- Gareth Davis
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