Golding’s election test

WHEN PEOPLE’S National Party (PNP) president Mark Golding addresses his party’s 85th annual conference this weekend, he will be fully aware of what is at stake. The occasion will also present for the PNP what is its largest mass gathering before the long overdue local government elections, and possibly, before an early general election.

Golding will be anxious to rally supporters to vote for the party he leads ahead of local elections, for which it has already threatened a lawsuit if postponed a fourth time.

The PNP leader will also be mindful that it is the first conference since the polls by Don Anderson, which put the party ahead of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) for the first time since 2015.

Officials say the results have served as motivation for the party recovering from a cocktail of acrimonious infighting and disengagement despite best efforts to heal breaches.

According to the PNP, the results have put pep in the step of Comrades, who have been in opposition for two consecutive terms for the first time since 1980.

Golding and members of the party were guests at The Gleaner Editors’ Forum last week.

“It’s an opportunity for us to showcase a variety of things, and we are looking forward to doing that. Of course, I will be making the main address and touching on a number of issues which I think will give the public a sense of the direction the next PNP administration will be going,” Golding told the forum.

But the top priority for the party seeking to retake power is the selection of local and national candidates for local and municipal elections. Though incomplete, the party is far advanced in the process.

“One of the things we have been doing is, of course, preparing for the constituency representation. We have been going through a candidate-selection process, which we started toward the end of January this year. Certain milestones have been reached, so we will be able to speak to that, which, of course, is part of being ready for an election,” Golding stated.

With candidate readiness being one part of the process, he said a platform of policy and programmatic readiness is the other, which he will also address. The party, which has always considered itself democratic, has faced pushback from supporters and delegates over some of the candidates selected and the selection process.

However, it has completed more than 80 per cent of the 228 municipal divisions and at least 45 for parliamentary positions.

“In terms of local government, we have only 15 of those divisions to be filled, and they are within the evaluation process. So going into candidates, we intend to present all the candidates. In terms of the general elections, at the time of conference, we will be in a position to present 45, and a programme of work is currently under way in the remaining constituencies … ,” said general secretary Dr Dayton Campbell.

Immediately after the conference, the selection will continue, and Campbell said all will be in place before year-end. He said renewed interest has been shown by aspirants, especially since the Anderson poll findings.

He was referencing the June 2023 Don Anderson poll commissioned by the PNP, which found that if an election were called, then 30.2 per cent of Jamaicans would vote for the PNP while 25 per cent would vote for the JLP. The poll had a plus or minus three per cent and showed increased voter support over the February 2023 findings when their numbers stood at 28.1 per cent, and July 2022, when it was 18 per cent.

The JLP dismissed the results, calling the findings “contrived”.

He said the PNP was not at this time conducting any polls except for internal use geared at supplementing the candidate-selection process.

Calling the “space” a dynamic one, he said the PNP was preparing for both elections. The general secretary also explained the ‘Time Come’ slogan and the message it is seeking to portray.

“Time Come is an anchor for what we want to say. We use it to both hold the government to account and tell of our future plans. So when we say ‘Time Come’ for all of the nefarious acts being conducted in government, and, therefore, ‘Time Come’ for a change, for us to move forward, to have better policies, in healthcare, education, the economy … ,” Campbell told the forum.

“It is also a call to action for Jamaica. Time Come not to accept the status quo, but to change for the better,” said Peter Bunting, former general secretary and a key Golding ally in the party and opposition.

Within that context, the party in 1972 used ‘Better Must Come’ as its slogan. It ushered Michael Manley to power after he became leader in 1969. Golding is hoping to find political treasure in the slogan, albeit with a different electorate and half a century later.

Communication director Nikeisha Burchell said the slogan has taken on more urgency as the conference and election(s) loom with ‘Time Come Now’ as the updated forum. She said it has also taken on a life of its own in popular culture.

The conference will host two days of private session on Friday and Saturday, and the public session will be at the National Arena on Sunday.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com