Headlines:
| Nomination day for Cornwall Mountain Division by-election |
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| Monday, 22 June 2009 | |
 Monday is nomination day for the two candidates vying for
the parish council seat in the Cornwall Mountain Division in Central
Westmoreland.The by-election is to be held on July 14 and already both camps are ratcheting up the rhetoric in an effort to galvanize the support of the voters. JLP candidate and former councillor for the division Keith Barnes, believes that he is the right man for the division. "There is no doubt in my mind because my bulk of the work supporters is coming from the young people the people in Cornwall Mountain asked me to go to the Westmoreland Parish Council to represent them because they feel it is better if you have one JLP councilor in the mix," Mr. Barnes said. However, Peoples National Party Member of Parliament for Eastern Westmoreland Luther Buchanan believes the PNP's candidate Bernard Van Reil is well placed to win the by-election. "I am confident that Mr. Van Riel will take home the seat for the People's National Party because he didn't lose that division he had opted not to run again in that division and went to a weaker division and brought it home for the PNP. The councilor for the JLP division in 2003 only won by 14 votes when there was an inclination towards the JLP and they had four JLP councilors in the council," Mr. Buchanan said. The Cornwall Mountain Divisional seat became vacant following the death of Councillor Michael Smith in early May. Mr. Barnes was one of four JLP councillors in the Westmoreland Parish Council between 2003 and 2007. Mr. Van Riel was a councillor for the Cornwall Mountain Division prior to the 2003 local government poll. The PNP now controls all 14 divisions in the Westmoreland Parish Council. In the meantime, Deputy Director of Elections Earl Simpson says all is in place for Monday's nomination exercise. "We have identified nomination centre which is going to be the Coke's View Primary School and we have everything in place. Two candidates so far have made contact with the returning officer for the constituency and we expect those two persons to show up to be nominated. The PNP candidate will be coming at 12 and the JLP candidate will be coming at 1 pm," Mr. Simpson said. |