MONTEGO BAY, St James — At least six newcomers being fielded as parliamentary candidates by both major political parties are brimming with confidence of a sure victory despite going up against sitting members of parliament (MP) and, in some cases, political stalwarts.

Brian Wallace, a former Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) senator who served from 1998 to 2002, has maintained that he is not intimidated by his main opponent, Ian Hayles, who is the Chairman of the People’s National Party (PNP) Region Six and a two-term member of parliament for Hanover Western.

Wallace, the brother of Carey Wallace who unsuccessfully contested the Westmoreland Western seat against the PNP’s Wykeham McNeill in the 2011 General Election on the JLP’s ticket, said his main focus is to win the seat.

“The constituency is a picture of neglect. The representation has been very poor. It’s all about the hype and curried goat and which artiste you can bring there to attract the crowd, while the roads are in a deplorable state and a number of communities suffer from a lack of water,” said Wallace, who has been busy working in the constituency since November.

“The town of Lucea is a disgrace. This is a town of historic importance and yet it is falling apart. The constituency could not have been in a worse state … so I am really confident that I will win; the people are fed up of poor representation.”

When Hayles first contested the seat in the 2007 General Elections, he defeated the JLP’s Donnovan Hamilton by a margin of 173 votes. However, in the subsequent parliamentary polls four years later, he increased his margin of victory to 1,678 votes to again beat Hamilton.

In the neighbouring constituency of Hanover Eastern, where Lucea Mayor Wynter McIntosh, who is also the PNP councillor for the Chester Castle Division in the constituency, and the JLP’s Dave ‘Spoon’ Brown are contesting, both candidates have expressed confidence in taking home the seat which has been represented by the ruling PNP since 2007.

The seat was won by veteran politician Dr D K Duncan by a margin of 10 votes over the JLP’s Barrington Gray following a magisterial recount in 2007. In the 2011 parliamentary polls, however, Duncan increased the margin of victory to 264 over the JLP’s Paula- Kerr Jarrett.

But expressing confidence that he will take home the seat for his party by a margin of about 300 votes, Brown said as MP he plans to tackle the high levels of unemployment, poor roads, and the lack of piped water in the constituency.

And an equally confident McIntosh said when he is elected, he plans to tackle the lack of housing solutions, poor roads, lack of potable water and electricity in many of the communities.

He listed a slew of roadways in the constituency that, he said, will have to be addressed under his watch, adding that apart from infrastructural development, the youth will have to be engaged in an effort to put the constituency on a path of growth and development.

In St James Central, an interesting battle is developing for the seat — last represented by the PNP’s Lloyd B Smith — between 26-year -old attorney Ashley-Ann Foster of the PNP and businessman Heroy Clarke, who is contesting on the JLP’s ticket.

Foster is predicting a 500-vote margin win in her favour.

“We have been on the ground and continue to organise, organise, organise,” she stressed. “My team is very experienced — a super campaign team, seasoned and has won many elections,” said Foster.

In the 2011 General Election, Smith won the then newly created seat by a margin of 98 votes over Clarke, a former councillor in the St James Parish Council.

In the Trelawny Northern constituency, newcomer Victor Wright, who was a last-minute replacement for the PNP’s John Paul White, who withdrew his candidacy following disclosure of tax woes, will be seeking to hand the JLP’s Dennis Meadows his third-consecutive defeat in the constituency.

“I am very confident because the team and I have been putting in the work. We have been working over time to ensure that we make up ground, given the turmoil that we have been in,” said Wright, who was White’s campaign manager.

The constituency was last represented by Attorney General Patrick Atkinson who defeated Meadows by a margin of 2, 321 votes in the 2011 General Election.

And businessman George Wright believes that he is on the right path to break the PNP’s dominance of the Westmoreland Central constituency.

“I will win the seat. I am confident that I will win, the people need a change….. so much has been promised by the PNP, but they have not delivered,” said Wright, who is contesting on the JLP’s ticket.

The governing PNP has held the constituency since 1989.

Yesterday, Wright told the Jamaica Observer West that “because of the injustice that we face in the constituency, I could not sit idly by, I had to get involved”.

“A number of parents cannot afford to send their children to school, there is no form of development to create jobs, the roads are in a poor state…. there is just hopelessness,” he stressed.

Wright will contest against the incumbent PNP candidate Dwayne Vaz and independent candidate 24-year-old Toraino Beckford.