Golding
Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer
JAMAICA LABOUR Party Chairman, Bruce Golding, has still not identified a parliamentary seat to contest in the next general election, missing his own deadline of March 2004.
Mr. Golding had disclosed in an interview with The Gleaner in November, 2003 that he expected to make that decision by March.
When contacted recently on the matter, Mr. Golding said that while no decision had been made yet 'the matter is under active consideration'.
Supporters of Mr. Golding's expected candidacy to succeed Edward Seaga as JLP Leader have openly spoken of the need to have him quickly installed as caretaker for a constituency.
The setback in achieving that, he explained to The Sunday Gleaner, was due, in large measure, to the fact that much-needed constituency boundary changes had not yet been finalised.
NUMBER OF CONSTITUENCIES
The Boundaries Committee of Parliament recommended earlier this year that the maximum number of constituencies allowable under the Constitution be raised from 60 to 65, and that the actual number of parliamentary seats be increased, in the first instance, from 60 to 63. That recommendation is awaiting the required constitutional amendment for implementation.
The three seats to be added are likely to emerge from realignment of constituency boundaries two in St. Catherine and one in St. James. Asked about his preference, Mr. Golding was quick to highlight his St. Catherine roots. The son of Tacius Golding, a former Member of Parliament for Western St. Catherine, Bruce Golding first represented the JLP in South West St. Catherine from 1972 to 1976. He was the party's standard bearer in Central St. Catherine from 1983 to 1995, when he left the JLP to establish the National Democratic Movement (NDM). He lost the seat in 1997 to the new JLP candidate, Olivia 'Babsy' Grange. He returned to the JLP in September 2002, to play a leading role in the campaign for the October General Election, but not as a candidate.
Now a leading senator for the JLP in the Upper House, and chairman of the party, Mr. Golding is once again the presumed favourite to succeed Mr. Seaga, but remains without a parliamentary seat.
Knowledgeable sources told The Sunday Gleaner that Prime Minister P.J. Patterson was not likely to be rushed into moving the required constitutional amendment to facilitate the early creation of the new seats, since the next election is not due until 2007.
"I'm fortunate in that there are other options open to me," retorted Mr. Golding, when that potential hurdle was put to him.
He declined, however, to elaborate on what those other seat options were.
