New Portmore constituency could shift political balance, says deputy mayor 

Deputy Mayor of Portmore Alric Campbell says any additional constituency created in Portmore as a result of the pending electoral boundary adjustments could significantly shift the balance of political power in the newly established parish.

Speaking with The Gleaner against the background of Tuesday’s announcement by the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) that it has begun consultations on electoral boundary adjustments linked to Portmore’s parish status, Campbell said there are enough electors in Portmore to facilitate one or even two additional constituencies.

The Portmore parish status legislation was passed by both Houses of Parliament last year.

“With respect to Portmore, a forth constituency could come, because the three current constituencies are all above the minimium number of electors required per constituency so there are enough electors to have four or even five constituencies,” Campbell acknowledged.

He continued: “The political implication for a forth constituency would mean that the boundary forum committee involved in the consultations would now need to drill down per community to indicate which communities they would want and which polling division they would change to accomodate a fourth constituency and this could impact the balance of political power in the parish.”

The ECJ has indicated that the proposed electoral boundary changes would affect St Catherine South Eastern, St Catherine East Central, St Catherine Southern, and St Catherine South Central.

However, Campbell believes a fifth constituency –St Catherine Eastern – could also become part of the discussions.

“In my view, this could come about during the constltations to maintain the present balance of power by placing the communities that will be affected in St Catherine Eastern,” he said.

Campbell argued that any attempt to place affected communities into constituencies where the People’s National Party currently enjoys strong support would not receive his backing.

He further maintained that, in the interest of fairness, the affected communities should be split between St Catherine South Central and St Catherine Eastern.

The passage of the Portmore parish bill triggered a legal challenge from the Opposition People’s National Party, which accused the Government of breaching constitutional requirements by pursuing boundary changes without the direct participation of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica.

The Holness administration rejected the claim.

In a ruling delivered in March 2025, Chief Justice Bryan Sykes ordered that the Government not bring the legislation into operation until it complied with Section 67 of the Jamaican Constitution, which mandates the ECJ to conduct electoral boundary alignments in Jamaica.

ruddy.mathison@gleanerjm.com