Election watch
Labourites to up tempo at 80th annual conference today as polls draw nearer
Published:Sunday | November 26, 2023 | 12:11 AMErica Virtue - Senior Gleaner Writer
Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters are expected to turn out in large numbers at the National Arena today for the public session of the party’s 80th annual conference, many expecting to hear the date for the long-overdue local government elections.
Today’s session, which will hear the JLP leader and prime minister, Andrew Holness, deliver the main address early afternoon, is expected to heighten the activities on the political scene, which has been in a frenzy in preparations for the elections.
The last major gathering of Labourites before the local government elections, which must be held by February 2024, an announcement today will give Jamaicans only three windows by January 2024 for it to be held without disrupting the education system. The windows are December 18-22, December 27-29, or January 3-6.
The JLP currently controls nine of the 14 councils. A clean sweep for the incumbent, political watchers say, could bring an early general election. However, others believe inroads made by the opposition People’s National Party (PNP) could see the country in election mode until 2025, when the parliamentary poll is constitutionally due.
Last week, Local Government Minister and JLP conference chairman, Kingston Western Member of Parliament (MP) Desmond McKenzie, said he was confident that the party would increase the number of municipal leadership it currently holds.
Voter turnout for local government elections has been traditionally low, with only 30.06 per cent of the electorate casting their ballots when it was last held in 2016.
RALLY THE BASE
Former JLP MP Pearnel Charles Sr said the party leader must rally the base today.
“I think he has to make sure that Labourites understand the difference between what he is doing and what has been done for years under the PNP,” Charles Sr told The Sunday Gleaner.
“In other words, you can’t just say that unemployment is down to four per cent, never in the history of Jamaica. You can’t just say that the dollar (US-Jamaica) is stable (US$1-J$155/156). He has to make sure his team is loyal behind him,” the retired veteran said.
He said Holness must explain to the public the reasons for the chronic traffic jams on the roadways, which is a result of thousands of persons now being mobile because they are able to afford motor vehicles.
“Every woman in a job is driving a nice woman car. He has to get the people who are Labourites to give him full support for what he is doing, so that when elections come, they can vote for him. I don’t think he has to come with any international issues,” Charles argued.
“Rain fall, roads mash up, he has allocated funds to fix it. Farmers lose them food, he is there to say I am going to give you money to replant. Of course, some want things to happen immediately, but he has to speak to them, and they will understand.”
Holness, he stressed, must speak to the people in a language for them to understand what is being done.
CONTINUE MOVING THE COUNTRY FORWARD
Expressing confidence that the JLP will dominate the local government elections, General Secretary Dr Horace Chang said Holness does not need to be defending minor issues in the country, but instead continue to move the country forward on the highway of development.
At a press conference on Tuesday, party officials trumpeted the JLP’s many achievements since 2016 when it took office. Among them are massive infrastructural development, investments in the security apparatus of the country, and economic gains.
De facto Information Minister Robert Morgan said investment in the country by the Government since assuming office is unequalled for any period and any administration in Jamaica.