Former Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Senator, Warren Newby, has won Sunday's internal party "consultation" exercise in North Western Clarendon that was held to assist in selecting the governing party's candidate for the constituency in the next General Elections.
The preliminary counting showed that Newby won 389 votes to 166 votes secured by his main competitor, attorney Corey Dunkley.
Educator Dr Clovis Nelson secured on eight votes.
Newby won convincingly in all four municipal corporation divisions - Spaldings, Frankfield, Thompson Town and Richies - securing more than 100 votes each in Frankfield and Thompson Town.
Deputy General Secretary of the JLP, Dr Andrew Wheatley, who announced the results, was cautious in reminding labourites that Sunday's event was a consultation.
"Based on the results, Newby is declared the winner of this consultation; that's the word," Wheatley stressed.
He told the JLP supporters that it will take a united North Western Clarendon to "retain" the constituency in the next national polls that are due by September of this year.
"There are no individual victors here this evening; it is the Jamaica Labour Party that is the victor here, and so, I am going to encourage all labourites from within the constituency and outside of the constituency, who are here to support labourites, that we (must) unite and move forward," Wheatley urged.
"It is the entire Jamaica Labour Party moving forward for the third term," he declared.
If selected to contest the election for the JLP, Newby will face veteran People's National Party (PNP) politician and former MP for North Western Clarendon, Richard Azan.
Azan lost the seat by 139 votes to the JLP's Phillip Henriques in the 2020 polls. At the end of a judicial recount, Henriques polled 6,075 votes to Azan's 5,936.
Henriques, who is a businessman, has indicated that he will not be seeking re-election as MP.
Constituents have long claimed that Henriques has represented the constituency poorly since winning the seat in 2020, and some have urged the governing party to select a new candidate.
