The St James East Central constituency was first contested in the 1976 general election. The electoral divisions are Rose Hall, Somerton and Spring Mount.
The seat was first won by Herbert Eldermire, representing the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). He defeated the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Edgar Watson 4,796 votes to 4,508. The seat remained a JLP stronghold until the 1989 polls, when the PNP turned the tide and Violet Neilson defeated the JLP’s Godfrey Dyer 5,656 votes to 4,598. She repeated the victory over the same opponent in 1993, and over one Edmund Bartlett in 1997 – 5,851 votes to 5,152. The National Democratic Movement’s (NDM) Robert Russell received 435 votes.
The constituency was returned to the JLP’s care in 2002 as Bartlett claimed the victory 6,394 votes to 5,170 over Donald Colomathi of the PNP. The NDM’s Carnel Cameron polled 29. Bartlett again beat Colomathi in 2007 8,398 to 6,637. Independent candidate Roystan Richards polled 42.
In 2011, Bartlett defeated the PNP’s Cedric Stewart 6,382 votes to 6,208, and Richards who received 22 votes.
