THE candidates for the two major political parties were yesterday nominated amid a carnival-like atmosphere in the Kitson Town area of the St Catherine West Central constituency.

The Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Dr Christopher Tufton and the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Clinton Clarke were accompanied by crowds of jubilant supporters to the electoral office in Kitson Town where they were nominated in order to contest the February 25 General Election.

Clarke, who is running for the seat a second time, was nominated at 11:00 am. He paid he required $3,000 to returning officer Janetta Myrie, before leaving the electoral office and into the embrace of a sea of orange-clad supporters.

As was the case earlier, Clarke was accompanied by a marching band as his supporters blew vuvuzelas and gyrated to the beat of music as they made their way along the Kitson Town main road back to their staging area at the Kitson Town square.

Clarke told the Jamaica Observer earlier that he was certain of a victory this time around because he didn’t abandon the constituency after losing to the JLP’s Dr Ken Baugh in the 2011 election, as widely expected.

“I’ve been in the constituency for the last four years, and the people love me because I didn’t abandon them,” he said. “I have a lot of supporters from the JLP side also.”

Clarke said the first order of business when he wins the election is to address the issues of road and water within the constituency.

“There is no development,” Clarke said, suggesting that the previous JLP Government had not done enough for the area.

Dr Baugh had decided to retire from representational politics, clearing the way for Tufton, the former member of parliament for the St Elizabeth South Eastern constituency from 2007 until his defeat in 2011 by Hugh Buchanan of the PNP. He lost by just 13 votes.

Yesterday, as Clarke and his supporters were making their way from the nomination centre, they met a massive convoy with Tufton’s green-clad supporters heading in the opposite direction to the electoral office.

The occasion saw friendly banter between supporters from both sides, who waved flags and, blew vuvuzelas all the more, and shouted what they thought the election results will be.

“That’s how we live around here,“ a woman later told the Observer. “If there is trouble it must be a stranger who caused it. Election time people from both sides pack up in the same car and go vote.”

Meanwhile, after completing the nomination process, Tufton told journalists that his priorities after winning the seat include development of roads and piped water. He said he’s currently working on a development plan and that creating employment opportunities is high on his agenda.

After leaving the electoral office, he was swallowed by a throng of supporters.

A strong police-military presence was on show, but there was no report of any incident.