Cooke eyes Central Leeward for NDP

Public Relations Officer of the New Democratic Party (NDP) Ernesto Cooke is interested in becoming the party’s candidate for Central Leeward in the next general elections.{{more}}

“Yes, I am, but that is not something I want to talk about right now,” he told SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday.

The NDP’s constituency group in Central Leeward is slated to consider candidate selection next month, SEARCHLIGHT understands.

Central Leeward was the only seat retained by the Unity Labour Party (ULP) on the leeward side of the mainland, when it was returned to office with a one-seat majority, for a third term, in December 2010.

Norrell Hull, who contested the seat on an NDP ticket, failed in his bid for the fourth consecutive time. In 2010, he lost to the ULP’s Maxwell Charles. Prior to that, he was beaten by the ULP’s Louis Straker, who retired from active electoral politics in 2010.

Cooke was interested in representing the ULP in South Leeward in 2010, but joined the NDP that same year.

He hosted the NDP’s weekday radio talk show, “New Times”, for several months while Elwardo “E.G.” Lynch was receiving treatment for failing eyesight.