These women, although supporters of rival political parties, have a good time during yesterday's West Portland by-election in Hope Bay. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

West Portland yesterday forcefully rejected an application from People's National Party (PNP) candidate Kenneth Rowe to be its member of parliament, and opted instead to have the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Daryl Vaz resume representing it in the House of Representatives.

At the end of the day, Vaz polled 7,915 votes to Rowe's 5,626, becoming the first candidate to score more than 7,000 votes in West Portland.

Astor Black, of the New Jamaica Alliance, polled 27 votes.

Vaz bettered his showing in the 2007 general election, when he polled 6,977 votes to defeat the PNP's Abraham Dabdoub, who received 6,033 from the 74 per cent of those who voted. Yesterday, 72.6 per cent voted.

"They (the PNP) have to examine themselves," Vaz declared in celebrating his victory last night. "All of them have lost. I was never worried. I must thank the people of West Portland."

Well-contested

In a statement last night, the PNP congratulated Vaz on his victory and thanked its supporters from in and around the constituency for their participation "in what was a well-contested and relatively incident-free by-election.

"The party will be reviewing the results and their implications in the immediate term," the statement read.

It was Rowe's second defeat at the hands of Vaz, who beat him in a 2006 candidate selection for the JLP. Then, Vaz polled 175 votes to the 66 received by Rowe, a former vice-president of Generation 2000, the group of young business persons affiliated with the JLP.

The margin of victory, in line with Vaz's prediction, allowed the governing JLP to exhale. Defeat would have put a severe strain on the Government's razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives.

The win restored the JLP's 32-28 majority which, however, remains in danger, with three JLP MPs facing court challenges for having allegedly pledged allegiance to a foreign power.

Vaz had been ousted from Parliament by the court as a result of the first such case, which was brought by Dabdoub in the aftermath of the 2007 general election.

Amid overcast conditions in the cool, picturesque parish of Portland, voters trickled into polling stations across the constituency to exercise their franchise.

Second attempt for rowe

Daryl Vaz at St Margaret's Bay, Portland.

Rowe voted around 9 in the morning, after which he said: "If I lose, then I will do what losers do. You lick your wounds for a couple of days and then come again."

Yesterday's by-election was Rowe's second attempt at the West Portland seat in a national poll.

In 2002, he contested the seat for the JLP but, despite cutting incumbent PNP MP Errol Ennis' previous 2,000-plus margin, he lost by 281 votes.

He switched allegiance to the PNP after Vaz defeated him for the chairmanship of the constituency in 2006.

After casting his vote at the Hart Hill Basic School yesterday morning, Rowe said politics was about being able to rise again after disappointments.

"You might fall, but you don't stay down. You get up again, refocus and aim for the next election," he said.

Last night, nothing could spoil the party for the Labourites who held a carnival of green in almost every nook and cranny of the constituency as they celebrated Vaz's victory and poured scorn on the career of PNP President Portia Simpson Miller.

"She only popular but she cyan win election," one JLP supporter commented.

Simpson Miller has now lost three national polls - the 2007 general and local-government elections as well as yesterday's by-election, on which she had emphatically placed her stamp.

Failed to match

Though Simpson Miller spent almost every day campaigning in West Portland with Rowe, the PNP failed to at least match its showing in the 2007 poll.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding said the people of West Portland demonstrated resolve in choosing Vaz.

"What they have indicated quite clearly is that they are not prepared to accept any simplistic explanation or any attempts to blame the economic conditions on the Jamaica Labour Party government," Golding said.

The PNP had argued the election was a referendum on Golding's government, which has been faced with tough criticism of its performance since it came to power, as well as a calamitous global economic crisis. But, following yesterday's result, the prime minister said the results of the 'referendum' were something the Opposition must "hug up".

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com

A mini castle, made by Ricky Gaynor and bearing the image of West Portland by-election victor Daryl Vaz, sits along a road in Hope Bay, Portland. - Ricardo Maykn/Staff Photographer