Election takeover

Political commentators are expressing worry that the issues affecting local governance have taken a backseat to national issues, concluding that the campaign for the February 26 polls has been subsumed by a general election atmosphere.

“If one looks at the issues being put forward by both parties, the majority are of a national nature. There’s very little parochialism in the electioneering contest,” Lloyd B. Smith, a former deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, told The Gleaner yesterday.

He said mega projects are being announced and national policies are being put on the table.

Smith said if one were not fully aware that it was a local election that has been scheduled to take place a week and a half from now, it could be concluded that the country is in the throes of a general election.

Along a similar line, Dr Paul Ashley noted that advertisements from the two main political parties have not centred on candidates participating in the election.

He said Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader and Prime Minister Andrew Holness has been at the forefront of the campaign for the ruling party, strategically moving throughout the country and “selectively” cutting ribbons and doling out promises.

“He has promised to deal with the income tax threshold, but he has not announced the date or the full reference. Both leaders are competing as if this is a general election,” said Ashley.

Last week, Holness pointed a finger at the opposition People’s National Party (PNP) which, he said, is operating as though parliamentary elections were afoot.

Holness said he has been moving across the island “doing the Government’s work”.

“Whether it is an election or not, I continue to break ground, hand over units, do amazing things with the Government to bring prosperity to the Jamaican people. Day by day, Jamaica is improving,” said Holness while speaking to journalists in his constituency last Thursday.

“There are those who would want to turn local government election into a general election. It shows a kind of power hungriness,” he added.

PNP President and Opposition Leader Mark Golding, on the same occasion, which was nomination day, told journalists that the electorate is ready to send a message to the Government that its time in office is up.

“The whole Jamaica is treating this like a general election. It’s like a preliminary general. The excitement is at a different level to what LGE [local government elections] normally encounter. The people are dying to send a signal to this Government that they want to get rid of them ... ,” said Golding.

Smith, who successfully contested the 2011 general election on a PNP ticket, said he is not clear on whether the prime minister is being sincere in his comment.

“Most of his pronouncements are of a general election nature,” the veteran journalist said.

He said the feeling among the electorate is that this is tantamount to a “mini general election”.

He said it is a referendum on the stewardship of the JLP led by Holness and also on the performance, or lack thereof, of the PNP and leader Golding.

It is not customary for a local government election to precede a general election. The parish election has been delayed several times, having been constitutionally due in November 2020.

The general election is due by September 2025.

“We are into a mini-general election, and moreover, it is an election that is being conducted by the leadership of both parties. In fact, you could say it is a referendum on Andrew Holness and it is a referendum on Mark Golding,” said Ashley.

“The prime minister has indicated that this is a serious election, and he is busy campaigning not for particular candidates - we have not seen them. We have not heard anything other than I am a candidate and I will win.”

He said polls are being conducted nationally. Holness remains at the forefront and the Minister of Local Government, Desmond McKenzie, is absent.

Ashley questioned, if announcements being made now are subject to the National Budget, which is being tabled today, why was the country hearing about them now?

“We are being treated to a number of promises [that] the electorate must not forget, and the hypocrisy. What is happening is that the local election has been subsumed under the general,” said Ashley.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com