Vaz lambasts PNP over 'hypocritical support'

Daryl Vaz, Jamaica Labour Party member of parliament and government minister, has blasted the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) over its actions during the recent by-elections in South West St Catherine and the Frankfield division in North West Clarendon.

According to Vaz, while the PNP officially stayed away from the contests, it was very present in an covert manner.

"It did not go unnoticed that there was an increase in the number of votes that independent candidates got," declared Vaz at the close of the weekly post-Cabinet media briefing yesterday.

"I find it hypocritical that ... you had senior members of the People's National Party, former general secretaries and current MPs admitting on public TV that they were supporting an independent candidate and working assiduously to get votes out for an independent candidate," Vaz declared.

"It is not only hypocritical, but I would venture to say that it is absolutely a mockery to democracy," added Vaz.

But Julian Robinson, deputy general secretary of the PNP, was quick to reject claims that the party supported any of the independent candidates who contested the by-elections.

"The PNP took a decision not to contest the by-elections and it stood by that. There was no use of the party's machinery to support any candidate," Robinson told The Gleaner.

He said while some members of the PNP did go into the areas where the by-elections were being held, they did so on their own accord and not under the party's banner.

The JLP's Everald Warmington was elected MP for South West St Catherine while the party's representative Clive Mundle was elected Councillor for the Frankfield division.

South West St Catherine (constituency)

• Everald Warmington (Jamaica Labour Party) - 5,891 votes
• Carlos Waul (Independent) - 2,991 votes
• Betty Ann Blaine (New Nation Coalition) - 177 votes
• Ras Astor Black (Jamaica Alliance Movement) - 46 votes
• Christopher Irons (Marcus Garvey People's Political Party) - 60 votes

Of 37,151 eligible voters, 24.6 per cent turned out.

Frankfield, Clarendon (division)

• Clive Mundle (Jamaica Labour Party) - 1,723 votes
• Ewan Holness (Independent) - 980 votes.
• Merlene Cameron (National Democratic Movement) - 19

Of 6,603 eligible voters in the division, 41.2 per cent turned out.