JAMAICA | Constitutional Crises Looms as Government Forces Portmore Parish Status

KINGSTON, Jamaica, March 14, 2025 - In what critics are calling an electoral power grab masquerading as administrative reform, Jamaica's government has ignited a constitutional showdown by ramming through controversial legislation to establish Portmore as the country's 15th parish—a move that has municipal leaders preparing for court battles and experts warning of dire electoral consequences.

The battle lines were drawn Thursday when twenty People's National Party (PNP) councillors in the St. Catherine Municipal Corporation voted against ratifying boundary changes for Portmore, while seventeen Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) councillors voted in favor—a symbolic but telling rejection along strict party lines.

"Already you see the various entities, Electoral Commission of Jamaica and others have said that [the bill] is trying to create a constitutional crisis. Apparently the government doesn't care about the Constitution and that is why they continue to breach it," said Norman Scott, Chairman of the St. Catherine Municipal Corporation, who announced plans to seek an injunction once the Governor-General signs the legislation.

The House of Representatives passed the Counties and Parishes (Amendment) Act, 2025, on February 11, which would grant parish status to the Portmore City Municipality. Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Desmond McKenzie, framed the move as historic, noting it would be "the first time in the history of post-colonial Jamaica that a new parish is being created."

"Today, nearly 158 years later, we are beginning the process of giving formal recognition and further empowerment to the people of the largest community in the Caribbean," McKenzie declared during parliamentary proceedings, promising increased economic, social and political opportunities for Portmore residents.

But the celebratory rhetoric masks troubling constitutional concerns, according to Professor Errol Miller, former chairman of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ). In a detailed analysis published on his website, Miller warned that despite Parliament's actions, "the earliest Portmore could become a parish is 2026" due to constitutional requirements regarding boundary changes.

"If there is compliance with the Constitution of Jamaica, then the earliest time that Portmore can become a parish is February 2026," Miller wrote, explaining that the Constitution "is pellucidly specific as to when electoral boundaries must be changed, which is during a two- to four-year period of general review, (which is) four years after the last period of general review. The last general review ended in February 2022."

The controversy took a damning turn when recordings emerged of Minister Everald Warmington boasting at a JLP conference that the parish designation would effectively neutralize the PNP's influence in the region—contradicting public claims that opposition stems merely from partisan politics.

"I've been fighting before 2011... and today, I'm happy to say that we have the boundary that we wanted all along," Warmington declared at a St. Catherine divisional conference last November. The minister went further, explicitly stating that the boundary restructuring would ensure "the People's National Party will no longer be competition in the Portmore Division once the capital is declared a parish."

Opposition Spokesman Fitz Jackson seized on these statements as "irrefutable evidence" of the JLP's true intentions. "The JLP's attempt to manipulate the electoral process is not speculation—it is their own senior members who have explicitly stated they are pushing for Portmore to become a parish as a political power grab," he asserted.

Beyond partisan concerns, the legislation would strip Portmore residents of their unique right to directly elect their mayor—the only such arrangement in the English-speaking Caribbean. Opposition Leader Mark Golding denounced the move as a "deplorable travesty," arguing the JLP was "abusing its parliamentary majority" to strip away democratic rights without public consent.

"Today for Portmore; tomorrow for Westmoreland, Hanover, or any other parish in this country—that's where we're going, and we can't allow that to happen," warned Jackson, who vowed to challenge the legislation in court should the government "remain in its state of power drunkenness."

The boundary changes embedded in the legislation add fuel to accusations of electoral manipulation. Traditionally PNP-strong areas—Lime Tree Grove, Lakes Pen, Quarry Hill, and Grange Lane—would be cut from Portmore, creating what Golding termed a "no man's land" between existing constituencies.

"The JLP is clearly positioning to install a mayor of its own," Golding charged, linking the boundary changes to what he described as a broader strategy to consolidate political control—effectively nullifying the mandate of 14,000 voters who participated in the last local government elections.

When it became clear the government would use its majority to pass the bill, opposition members walked out of the chamber, but not before Jackson promised that should the PNP win the next election, it will repeal the act.

Portmore Mayor Leon Thomas called the legislation "a clear case of political gerrymandering" and a "backward step" that undermines democratic principles, revealing plans to pursue his own legal action to block the changes.

As the bill awaits the Governor-General's signature, Jamaica stands at a constitutional crossroads—with the potential for unprecedented electoral confusion should general elections, due later this year, proceed with Portmore as the 15th parish despite the boundary controversies now in play.

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