Hugh Buchanan (PNP) vs Floyd Green (JLP)

WHEN HUGH Buchanan won South West St Elizabeth on a People’s National Party (PNP) ticket in 2011, he not only did so with the second lowest margin of victory in the constituency – 13 votes – but he made the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Dr Christopher Tufton the first one-term member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency.

Created in 1959, the constituency has had six MPs – three each from JLP and PNP. When Charles Wright became the first MP, he did so by a whisker, securing victory by six votes over the PNP’s E.V. Allen.

The three members of the JLP who have held the seat are Charles Wright (1959-1972), Derrick Sangster (1980-1989) and Tufton (2007-2011).

The three members of the PNP are: Mel Brown (19721980), Donald Buchanan (1989 to 2007) and Hugh Buchanan (2011 to present).

By winning the seat in 2011, Hugh Buchanan made a better political start t han his late father, Donald, who was hammered in his first parliamentary contest in 1980.

In that election, Derrick Sangster polled 8,555 votes to beat Donald Buchanan, who got 5,535.

In 2011, Tufton dropped 459 votes, polling 9,440, while Buchanan’s 9,453 was 1,379 more than the PNP received in the previous election.

South West St Elizabeth has four divisions: Black River, Brompton, Mountainside, and Pedro Plains. Any party that has won this seat has won the general election.

Currently, t here are some 30,200 persons registered to vote in the constituency, up from 27,710 in 2011.

WINNING MARGINS

1959 – 6 votes JLP’s Charles Wright over PNP’s E.V. Allen 1962 – 537 votes JLP’s Charles Wright over PNP’s Winston Walters 1967 – 717 votes JLP’s Charles Wright over PNP’s Harrington Crawford 1972 – 935 votes PNP’s Mel Brown over JLP’s Charles Wright 1976 – 266 votes PNP’s Mel Brown over JLP’s Derrick Sangster 1980 – 3,020 votes JLP’s Derrick Sangster over PNP’s Donald Buchanan 1983 – Unopposed JLP’s Derrick Sangster 1989 – 1,001 votes PNP’s Donald Buchanan over JLP’s Derrick Sangster 1993 – 418 votes Donald Buchanan over JLP’s Derrick Sangster 1997 – 710 votes Donald Buchanan over JLP’s Derrick Sangster 2002 – 110 votes Donald Buchanan over JLP’s Derrick Sangster 2007 – 1,825 votes JLP’s Christopher Tufton over PNP’s Stanley Redwood 2011 – 13 votes PNP’s Hugh Buchanan over JLP’s Christopher Tufton