Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

Harry Douglas, Francis Tulloch, Trevor Munroe and D.K. Duncan

THE LAST ballot has been counted and the winners are known. But for four People's National Party (PNP) candidates, it is the end of the road; the majority of voters have all but sent them into political retirement.

Only magisterial recounts can save Dr. D.K. Duncan and Harry Douglas, who, like Francis Tulloch and Professor Trevor Munroe, seemed to have just had their final political curtain call.

Tulloch had put an unblemished record on the line when he returned to representational politics last year in a bid to help his party win a fifth consecutive term in government. In Monday's general election, he was beaten by 554 votes by Clive Mullings of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in a bid to represent the West Central St. James seat.

Duncan, a former PNP general secretary, was a member of the Michael Manley government of the 1970s. He re-entered representational politics after a decade and lost by the narrowest of margins - nine votes to the JLP's Barrington Grey in Hanover Eastern.

Similarly, Douglas, a four-time MP, lost by 34 votes to Tarn Peralto after the recount of the September 3 general election. Meanwhile, Professor Munroe, who was contesting his first election, was rejected by voters in Eastern St. Andrew, which could possibly mean the end of the road for the 63-year-old Munroe in his bid to enter representational politics.

Munroe, a professor of government and former head of the now-defunct Workers' Party of Jamaica, could not unseat the shaky JLP candidate in Dr. Bartlett, who the JLP barely kept as candidate after one term. He extended his 586 margin from the 2002 election to 842.

gracious in defeat

The Sunday Gleaner spoke to two of these veteran politicians, Tulloch and Douglas, who, despite not being happy to wear the tag of losers, are gracious in defeat and want to see the best for their country.

Tulloch, known by many as 'Little David', tells The Sunday Gleaner that he is finished with representational politics, but his record is not tarnished. Now 67, Tulloch has a record of four wins and one loss in general elections. He won the St. James Central seat for the PNP in 1972. He became the first MP of West Central St. James, which was created in 1976, before taking a break from representational politics.

Tulloch returned in 1993 to win the Eastern Hanover seat for the PNP and then the North West St. James seat in 1997. However, after serving North West St. James for four years, he retired from representational politics for personal reasons.

He had previously given up his Cabinet position of Health Minister after his former wife died of breast cancer and he became ill with prostate cancer.

Six years later, Tulloch felt that he needed to help ensure that PNP president Portia Simpson Miller was returned as Prime Minister, while at the same time contribute to the development of West Central St. James.

With Mullings having a majority of 1,118 after the 2002 election, Tulloch though that he could win back his old seat from the PNP. That was not to be.

"Nobody likes to lose and certainly I am sorry that I lost; but as somebody who is spiritual, you believe that these things happen for the best," the 67-year-old. Tulloch says.

"I am sad that I have lost. I am sad that Portia lost, but I am a Jamaican and I want the best for my country. And if this is going to help the country, I am all for it," said Tulloch.

"I wish the Government all the best. I don't want them to fail," he said of the JLP, adding that defeat for the PNP gives it a chance at introspection and rebuilding.

the better vision

Tulloch believed that he had the better vision for the constituency but said that his Opponent outspent him.

"I think I would have won if the Opposition didn't have so much money. I just did not have the wherewithal to compete with the Opposition."

Like Tulloch, Douglas' political days are all but over. Only a favourable magisterial recount could install him as Member of Parliament (MP) for South East St. Mary.

The defeat put a dent in Douglas' previously unbeaten records at the polls in general elections. He had previously knocked up four consecutive wins since his entry into representational politics in 1989.

Despite not being distraught about the defeat, Douglas wishes the results would have gone the other way; but he has accepted it.

"When you are in public life, these things do happen. You win some you lose some," Douglas says.

Douglas, the politician who some St. Mary residents have alleged honks the horn of his SUV more often than he represents them, has been driven into the political wilderness by the voters in South East St. Mary.

He was popularly called 'Pip Pip', an indication that he did not even give a full blast of the horn whenever he drove through the constituency.

Douglas says this view is erroneous and is the work of mischievous persons.

"People, regardless how right you are, will find fault. Jesus had no sin and he was crucified, while Barabas, the thief, was set free," he says.

"I am extremely proud of what I have done. I wish I could do more but I do know that I served my people well in South East St. Mary.

"One of my greatest achievements is that I have helped to educate some poor, unfortunate black men," Douglas said.

He is not bitter about the loss. He tells The Sunday Gleaner that "nothing is ordained to us".

"I wish the Government well and I hope they will do everything to unite this country that we all can be proud of," Douglas says.