Daraine Luton, Staff Reporter

THE PARISHES of St James, Westmoreland and St Catherine are likely to have additional constituencies when Parliament gives the go-ahead for the number to be increased.

There are now 60 constituencies in Jamaica, but the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) has proposed that the upper limit be moved to 65.

Parliament's Boundary Committee has recommended that the number of constituencies be increased to 63 in the first instance.

Acting Director of Elections, Orette Fisher on Wednesday refused to speculate on the parishes to be affected.

However, The Gleaner understands that St James, Westmoreland and St Catherine are among those being eyed by the ECJ for additional constituencies.

Preparatory work

Fisher said the Electoral Office of Jamaica has already begun preparatory work with regard to adjusting the boundaries.

"We have to wait until Parliament makes the amendment to the Constitution before anything can be done," Fisher told The Gleaner.

Parliament's Boundaries Committee met to discuss the issue in March, but there is no indication when a bill will be brought to the House to allow for an amendment to the Constitution for an increase in the number of constituencies.

Additionally, because of the absence of Derrick Smith, the minister with responsibility for electoral affairs, nothing more has occurred. Smith is now recovering from a surgical operation.

With the threat of a fresh general election as a result of cases filed against four government members of parliament, Jamaicans could go to the polls again without an adjustment to the constituency boundaries.

Based on the May 2008 voters' list, St Catherine has two of the most populous constituencies. The parish has a total of 243,107 electors in its nine constituencies.

South West St Catherine (32,270), which is represented by Everald Warmington of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), is close to the upper limit as it relates to electors in a constituency.

South St Catherine (32,494), represented by Fitz Jackson of the People's National Party (PNP), is also approaching the ceiling.

North East St Ann, represented by the JLP's Shahine Robinson, is above the upper limit, while North East St Andrew, represented by the JLP's Delroy Chuck, is below the lower limit.

Number of electorates

Should the number of St Catherine constituencies be increased from nine to 10, the average number of electorates in the parish would be 27,011.

Meanwhile, Westmoreland, which has an average of 26,348 electorates in its three constituencies, could easily fit in another constituency. This would lower the average in the four constituencies to 19,761 voters.

Central Westmoreland, which the PNP's Roger Clarke represents, has 32,394 electorates. It is the third biggest in the country and could be split, The Gleaner has been told.

St James, which has four constituencies, could fit a fifth and end up with an average of 20,129 electors. St James East Central, represented by the JLP's Edmund Bartlett, and St James North West, which the JLP's Dr Horace Chang represents, each have more than 26,000 voters. Also, there are more than 28,000 electors in the JLP's Clive Mullings' West Central St James constituency.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com