Jolyan Silvera (PNP) vs Robert Montague (JLP)

WESTERN ST Mary is one of seven seats won by the People’s National Party (PNP) in the last general election by less than 300 votes.

Jolyan Silvera, the PNP candidate, won the seat by 227 votes in 2011, unseating Robert Montague, who had taken it by a healthy 767 votes in the 2007 polls.

Silvera, a cousin of former Home Affairs and Justice Minister Noel Silvera, who served as a member of parliament for Central St Mary, enters the election with history, as it relates to the below 300 vote margin, being against him.

In 1962, t he PNP’s Stuart Charles won the seat over JLP’s Talbot Forrest by 297 votes. Forrest returned in the 1967 election to win the seat, beating the PNP’s Holroyd Thompson by 125.

Forrest failed to defend the slender margin in the 1972 elections, losing by 714 votes to the PNP’s Anthony Capleton.

Silvera, in winning the seat in 2011, secured 1,438 more votes than Delano Franklyn did for the PNP in 2007. Montague, on the other hand, increased his numbers by only 444 votes.

The constituency has five electoral divisions: Carron Hall, Gayle, Oracabessa, Retreat, and Boscobel.

In 2011, Montague won the Carron Hall (1,897 to 1,186) and Gayle divisions (2,059 to 1,682), but lost heavily in Oracabessa (1,762 to Silvera’s 2,948). The voting in Retreat (1,721Montague to 1,755- Silvera) and Boscobel (2,027- Montague to 2,122- Silvera) were close.

Of the 16 contested elections in West St Mary, the JLP has won six and the PNP has won 10.

There are 35,475 persons registered to vote in West St Mary .

WINNING MARGINS

1944 – 1,304 votes JLP’s Lester Simmonds over PNP’s Williams Robinson 1949 – 676 votes JLP’s Lester Simmonds over PNP’s Stuart Charles 1955 – 2,308 votes PNP’s Stuart Charles over JLP’s R. Lindo 1959 – 2,039 votes PNP’s Stuart Charles over JLP’s Lily Burke 1962 – 297 votes PNP’s Stuart Charles over JLP’s Talbot Forrest 1967 – 125 votes JLP’s Talbot Forrest over PNP’s Holroyd Thompson 1972 – 714 votes PNP’s Anthony Capleton over JLP’s Talbot Forrest 1976 – 2,007 votes PNP’s AGR Byfield over JLP’s Barry Wahrman 1980 – 1,200 votes JLP’s Talbot Forrest over PNP’s Vincent Edward 1983 – 2,760 votes JLP’s Hyacinth Knight over independent John Farrell 1989 - 2,569 votes PNP’s Terry Gillette over JLP’s Hyacinth Knight 1993 - 2,300 PNP’s Terry Gillette over JLP’s Hyacinth Knight 1997 - 1,804 votes PNP’s Terry Gillette over JLP’s Hyacinth Knight 2002 – 849 votes PNP’s Neil McGill over JLP’s Sutcliff Haughton-James 2007 – 767 votes JLP’s Robert Montague over PNP’s Delano Franklyn 2011 – 227 votes PNP’s Jolyan Silvera over JLP’s Robert Montague