Dr. Arthur Burt, Jamaica Labour Party nominee in the East Central St. Andrew by-election, shakes hands with the returning officer, C.A. Crearer (seated), during Nomination Day proceedings at Toch Hall in 1969. Looking on are Minister of Education, Edwin Allen (third left, partly hidden) and the Minister of Public Utilities and Housing, Wilton Hill, beside Mr. Allen - File

Hartley Neita, Contributor

Politics is theatre, and nomination day is a major scene in its drama.

This is the day when the candidates arrive at the nomination centres in triumph with as many of their supporters as possible, everyone wearing party colours, singing party songs and carrying banners and flags.

En route to the nomination centre, each group hands out photographs of its candidate. Afterwards, they have in the past travelled through the constituency in motorcades and, in the night, hold political meetings.

Nearly missed the boat

There have been times when candidates were almost not nominated.

In 1960, for example, People's National Party (PNP) candidate Felix Johnson, who was a candidate in the municipal and parish council elections, was informed by the returning officer in Spanish Town, St. Catherine, that he needed seven more bona fide voters from the parish to sign his nomination papers.

It meant that he would have had to travel all the way back to his district to find voters in his division to do so and ran the risk of not returning in time to be nominated.

His dilemma was solved, however, when the Jamaica Labour Party Member (JLP) of the House of Representatives (MHR), Caleb Walters, and former MHR L.W. Rose, quickly found seven registered JLP voters in the crowd which was assembled and got them to sign the form. Johnson was nominated, much to his relief.

Another incident was in 1944 when T.R. Sharpe, the Jamaica Democratic Party's candidate for North Manchester, heard that the car carrying A.J. Anderson, an indepen-dent candidate, who was also contesting the seat, had broken down and that he was walking to the nomination centre. Sharpe immediately sent his chauffeur to help him. Anderson is found trudging his way, sweating wet and tired.

He reached the centre in time and, when he was nominated, was cheered by supporters of both Sharpe's Democratic Party, and the candidate for the PNP, Norman Sinclair.

Despite the fear of candidates clashing on nomination day, in December 1954, for the third general election held under Universal Adult Suffrage, Hugh Shearer, the JLP candidate for West Kingston, and Ken Hill of the National Labour Party not only arrived together with their supporters but sat side by side before the returning officer and handed in their nomination papers.