Opposition Leader, Portia Simpson Miller, speaks to journalists outside the Lucea Resident Magistrate's Courthouse minutes after Dr. D.K. Duncan (right) was declared the winner of the Eastern Hanover seat, yesterday. - photo by Claudia Gardener

FOUR SEATS now separate the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) from the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) after Dr. D.K. Duncan was yesterday declared winner of the Eastern Hanover constituency. He defeated the JLP's Barrington Gray by 10 votes.

As The Sunday Gleaner predicted a day before the September 3 election, the JLP now has 32 seats in the 60-seat House of Representatives, while the PNP has moved to 28.

Court ruling

With the court set to hear constitutional motions brought against three JLP Members of Parliament. Any future court ruling in the PNP's favour could see a shift of power.

"With D.K. Duncan winning today (yesterday), it shows that the Government really has a limping majority in Parliament," the PNP's legal adviser, A.J. Nicholson, told The Gleaner yesterday.

Motions have been filed against Daryl Vaz in West Portland, Shahine Robinson in North East St. Ann, and Gregory Mair in North East St. Catherine. All three JLP candidates were successful in the September 3 general election.

The motions are grounded in the claim that these candidates were not properly nominated and do not qualify to sit in the Parliament, according to the Jamaican Constitution.

Mr. Nicholson said that the PNP is not seeking to wrest power from the JLP but rather "seeking to ensure that the Parliament is cleaned up".

But Karl Samuda, the JLP's General Secretary, told The Gleaner that the JLP is "not even in the least" worried about the constitutional motions brought against three of its MPs.

"There is no chance of anything happening there. We are not worried he said".

For his part, Mr. Nicholson was reluctant to say how comfortable the party was about unseating any of the three candidates through the courts. He said it was a matter for the court to decide but stressed that the "Opposition has a duty to ensure the Parliament is clean".

Mr. Nicholson's comments was a startling contrast to party leader Portia Simpson Miller's "it's not over yet," a comment she made at the PNP's annual conference one week after the general elections.

Yesterday, Mrs. Simpson Miller said she was happy the contention over the winner of the Eastern Hanover constituency seat has ended in favour of the PNP.

She made her comments during an interview with journalists outside the Lucea Resident Magistrates' Court, minutes after Returning Officer for Eastern Hanover, Hermina Bucknor, declared Duncan as the winner of the seat.

Resident Magistrate George Burton had earlier declared that Dr. Duncan had polled 6,068 votes to Mr. Gray's 6,058.

"I want to congratulate Dr. D. K. Duncan on his victory. I am happy that it is finally over so that the people of the constituency can have a representative to make representation on their behalf," Mrs. Simpson Miller said.

Mr. Samuda however said that he is confident that once the case is heard in the Election Court, the decision will be reversed.

"What happened in Eastern Hanover is temporary," he told The Gleaner.

"We are confident that Barry Gray will win after all is over," Mr. Samuda said.

Similarly, Mr. Gray said that "after an election petition, I know I will be in Gordon House". But Dr. Duncan said that his lawyers have a plan and he has no doubt that he will remain MP.

After the general elections Mr. Gray won the final count by nine votes but a magisterial recount was requested by the PNP.

At this stage, RM Burton decided to reject a group of ballots which did not have the marks required by law. The JLP rushed to the Supreme Court to get the judge to count the ballots but was unsuccessful in its application.

The JLP then moved to the Court of Appeal with a view to getting leave to go to the Judicial Review Court to compel the RM to count the ballots he had rejected.

Gray claimed that 58 of the rejected votes were for him, while 26 were for Dr. Duncan.

Leave was not granted, paving the way for Justice Burton to count the ballots and declare the seat in favour of Dr. Duncan.

Mr. Gray is the only JLP MP from the 2002 Parliament to be defeated in the 2007 polls.