ST THOMAS, Jamaica – The police in St Thomas say while they are committed to executing a broad-based plan on Thursday’s national polls to elect a new government, they will keep a keen eye on some polling divisions with a bad reputation of election day misdeeds.

Divisional commander, Police Superintendent Beau Rigabie, said special focus will be trained on these “hotspots” spread over both constituencies of St Thomas Western and St Thomas Eastern.

“Yes we do have some hotspots that we will be focused on in both constituencies, east and west… in this instance I will speak to polling locations rather than the areas themselves… we can look at Lyssons Primary School, Airy Castle, Dalvey, the Port Morant area, we are looking at Seaforth, White Horses, Yallahs, Springfield, to name a few,” he noted.

As part of counter-measures to address any potential disruptive action by political thugs or other residents inclined to impinge the voting process, Rigabie warned that his officers will be out in their numbers and stand ready to respond to any and all situations.

“We will have operatives at all polling stations, some will have more than others based on the problematic nature of a zone, we will have patrols deployed throughout both constituencies, patrols enough to dominate the particular space in question, we will have standby components, which will respond to any eventualities which may be beyond the realms of the local patrols,” Rigabie told OBSERVER ONLINE on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the People’s National Party’s (PNP) incumbent candidate for St Thomas Eastern, Dr Fenton Ferguson, will try to beat back the challenge of the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Delano Seiveright for a seat in the new parliament, while councillor Marsha Francis of the PNP is seeking to unseat the JLP’s James Robertson in the battle for St Thomas Western.

Political pundits have deemed these two among the marginal seats, which are being touted as being critical to the outcome of the election.

Also in the race in St Thomas Western is Robert Cover of the Marcus Garvey People’s Progressive Party.

Sean Williams