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Attorney-at-Law Hugh Small has expressed concern that if the Government moves forward with its plan to make Portmore Jamaica's 15th parish, another political party may attempt to reconfigure other parish boundaries to gain an electoral advantage.
The Parliamentary Opposition recently took the Government to court over its push to declare Portmore a parish, accusing it of seeking an unfair advantage through the redesign of constituency boundaries in the process.
Mr Small, speaking Sunday on Radio Jamaica's That's a Rap, posed the question: "What if, in the future, a party... thinks that by configuring the boundaries of three more parishes, they could create a new parish, or supplement what they perceive their advantage in one of the smaller parishes?"
He said he would hope even the people in parishes not affected by such changes would take strong exception to any such move.
They should see it, "not just as a matter that affects one of those other parishes," he said, but "as a question of how are we regarded, and is power going to be exercised in the interest of partisan interests, rather than our own."
Clive Munroe Jr., also an attorney, commenting in the same vein, painted a scenario in which, "like in shares, you just do a stock split... What if you split West Kingston into three constituencies, and all of them vote for the JLP; and that could be said for a PNP stronghold as well."
Chief Justice Bryan Sykes ruled on Friday that the government must give an unequivocal undertaking not to appoint a day for the Counties and Parishes (Amendment) Act, 2025, to come into effect until the procedure prescribed in section 67 of the Constitution has been complied with.
Section 67 of the constitution deals with the process for a standing committee of parliament to review the number of constituencies and boundaries.
The process is expected to take more than a year and could face more legal challenges from the People's National Party.
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