JLP, PNP strategising in four Kgn, St Andrew battlegrounds
Published:Sunday | September 29, 2024 | 12:09 AMErica Virtue - Senior Gleaner Writer
While the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) intends to hold on to the nine of 15 constituencies it currently has in Kingston and St Andrew, the opposition People’s National Party (PNP) believes it has a shot at at least three of four it believes are in play.
Both parties have identified St Andrew East Rural, St Andrew West Rural, and St Andrew Eastern as critical battlegrounds. They have been won or lost together since the February 1972 general election. The PNP, however, also has its eyes on Kingston Central, which the JLP won unexpectedly in 2020. Historically, Kingston Central has been a stronghold for the PNP, with the party winning it in all previous elections except in the uncontested 1983 polls.
As campaigning strategies remain closely guarded ahead of the anticipated general election, likely before September 2025, JLP General Secretary Dr Horace Chang emphasised that the party does not intend to cede any of its current seats.
“I am not about to tell you campaign strategies. Political organisations in governing parties are different from a party in opposition, although people are saying it should not be, but it has to be different. But the primary operation of a party is about getting its machinery in place to deliver what is required when the time comes,” he said.
“Government is a funny thing. You do one thing and it impacts a constituency heavily. So the primary objective of a government in power is to keep government programmes that can be efficient, timely, and, well, impacting people at the constituency level or at the national level,” Chang noted.
“The ones that are in play are all in St Andrew. [Kingston and St Andrew are] heavily impacted by national, government programmes, more than local government. The local government areas are well-defined. There are swing areas in about two or three constituencies, and those seats we all know, and we also know that both parties are going to fight hard for them,” the JLP general secretary said.
Chang expressed confidence in Member of Parliament Juliet Holness’ grasp on St Andrew East Rural, asserting it will be difficult to displace her.
The constituency has had 10 representatives since 1962, when it was won by Keeble Munn for the PNP. Munn, who had also won it in 1959, and Oliver Clue (1993 and 1997) have been two-term representatives for the PNP, while Joseph Hibbert (2002 and 2007) and Juliet Holness (2016 and 2020) have won it twice for the JLP.
The other representatives have been David Lindo ( JLP, 1967); Eric Bell (PNP, 1972); Roy McGann (PNP, 1976); Joan Gordon Webley (JLP, 1980 and the uncontested 1983); E.G Barrett (PNP, 1989); and Damion Crawford (PNP, 2011).
“So the candidates, the government programmes, the execution of the programmes, the political organisations, those things will come together for the election. This is a third-term election and Jamaica is a pretty strong democracy. We have a year to go through. I don’t think we are going to go there, but a government can make an impact; an opposition is out of power and can only make promises,” said Chang.
The JLP has never won a third term in office.
Dennis Gordon, the PNP man overseeing Kingston and St Andrew, is optimistic about the party’s prospects, asserting they plan to regain a majority in the region.
“Coming out of the local government elections, where we had the popular vote, just by virtue of those results, we would have picked up two more seats. That would take us to eight, and that is a majority,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.
“I will also tell you that we are using those numbers to work and work because there is a lot more work to be done, but don’t expect me to tell you what we are going to do. I am sure the JLP will not tell you either,” he added.
While traditionally the party in power often held the majority of the seats in Kingston and St Andrew, this was first broken in 2002 when the PNP was elected to office with seven constituencies while the JLP won eight. The PNP regained the three battlegrounds in 2011 when it regained state power, but lost them again in 2016 and 2020 as the JLP took office.
According to Gordon, based on the local government results, the PNP would add two more seats to its tally and put up strong competition in two others.
St Andrew West Rural has elected a JLP candidate more times than it has elected the PNP. Former Education Minister Mavis Gilmour is the only member of parliament to serve three terms there since Independence. Over the years, it has elected Allan Issacs (PNP, 1962); Emile Joseph (JLP,1967); Michael Manley (PNP, 1972); Mavis Gilmour (JLP, 1976, 1980, 1983); Claude Clarke (PNP, 1989); Vernon Robinson (PNP 1993, 1997); Andrew Gallimore (JLP, 2002, 2007); Paul Buchanan (PNP, 2011) and Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn (JLP, 2016, 2020).
Several attempts by The Sunday Gleaner to speak with Desmond McKenzie, the JLP’s deputy leader with responsibility for Kingston and St Andrew, were unsuccessful.
PNP General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell declined to state which constituencies the PNP would be targeting, but he stressed, “We do intend to win back the majority of the seats in the region.”