PNP rolls out technology to win upcoming elections

WESTERN BUREAU:

Phillip Paulwell, co-campaign director for the People’s National Party (PNP) for the next general election, says that the party is revamping its outdated, analogue campaign strategy. The party will be embracing new technology in its quest to win the next parliamentary and parish council elections, he revealed.

According to Paulwell, as the PNP moves to reimage itself as the party of choice, work has already started to build out an information-management system that will enable it to operate far more intelligently, smartly, and with analytical data. He said that the aim was to better understand more about voters and how to go about ensuring that the party scores victory at the polls.

“For me, it is the most critical work that we have to do to win. There are other things to be done, but this is the most critical area that requires a lot more discipline and a lot more training,” said Paulwell, who was addressing a PNP meeting for councillors and constituency caretakers from the party’s Regions One and Six, which comprise the parishes of Trelawny, St Ann, St James, Hanover, and Westmoreland.

“It is the People’s National Party [that] open up telecoms. It’s the People’s National Party that was determined to make Internet access across the length and breadth of Jamaica, and we are not going to allow the Jamaica Labour Party to lead us in the use of technology as we go forward to win these elections,” said Paulwell, a former technology minister.

“There is a clear path to victory, and that path emphasises that we do our campaigning much differently as we have done in the past,” said Paulwell. “Our path is quite clear. We are the party that brought in the full use of computers, telecommunications, analytics, and the digital economy,” he stressed.

Despite exuding confidence about the party’s prospects to score an election victory, Paulwell acknowledged that elections are won from divisions into constituencies.

“We have, therefore, broadened our approach, and that approach is to involve everybody because it is only when everybody, in a united effort, comes together that we will surely be victorious. I believe that we are on the way [to victory]. We are picking up that our Comrades want to ensure that even though we say unity that it is sincere … I can say to you, in relation to the top leadership of the campaign, as co-director with Comrade Peter Bunting, we are united,” said Paulwell.