KINGSTON, Jamaica – The leaders of Jamaica’s two main political parties Monday expressed confidence of their party being victorious in the September 3 general election with Prime Minster Andrew Holness indicating that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) will get a third consecutive term in office and the Mark Golding telling reporters that the momentum is with the main opposition People’s National Party (PNP).
Prime Minister and JLP leader, Andrew Holness speaking to reporters after being nominated to contest the September 3 general election (CMC Photo)Both Holness and Golding were nominated on Monday to contest the elections with Holness, confident of victory in the St Andrew West Central he has represented for nearly 27 years and Golding looking towards voters in South St. Andrew to return to Parliament as they have done since 2017.
Both parties have nominated candidates for the 63 seats at stake in the election and even as a Don Anderson RJR-Gleaner National Poll shows Jamaicans are almost evenly split in their views of the two major political parties and their leadership, both leaders remain confident.
“The truth is we have commissioned our own polls and our polls show a scenario that is totally different from what is being painted or portrayed. We don’t disclose our polls for good reasons. One of the things, of course, you know we don’t want any complacency to set in,” Holnes told reporters after being nominated.
“We have done a poll in 23 constituencies using a very large sample …and we are confident in what we see,” Holness said, adding “generally a larger sample is accurate…”
The Don Anderson RJR-Gleaner National Poll, conducted from August 2-11, found that 40.6 per cent of respondents hold a favourable view of the ruling party, while 40.5 per cent expressed an unfavourable opinion.
When it comes to the leaders, Prime Minister Holness has a 41 per cent favourability rating, slightly ahead of Golding with 38.5 per cent.
But Golding said the momentum is with the PNP telling reporters he was thankful to his constituents for allowing him the flexibility to focus on work at the national level and he believes that work will translate into votes.
Opposition Leader and PNP leader, Mark Golding, speaking to supports after being nominated to contest the general election on September 3 (CMC Photo)
“I think the momentum is definitely with the People’s National Party coming out of the publishing of our manifesto and all of the ideas that we have in there and there’s a little more to come in due course with that,” he said.
“Let us not assume we have won already, we don’t win yet. We will not win until every ballot is counted. Every vote has to count. And I am asking each of you to make sure on election day you come out and put your X squarely beside the head so that Mark Jefferson Golding can go back to Gordon House as your representative and as prime minister of Jamaica to take Jamaica forward and build a better life,” Golding said.
Golding said he is also pleased that his favourable ratings has “improved” saying “favourabilty is something that goes with exposure.
“As people get to know you and know more about who you are and so on, your favourability is likely to increase. If you’re a pleasant, affable person and you’re seen to be saying things that resonates with people,” said Golding.
Director of Elections Glasspole Brown said he expects close to 180 candidates will file nomination papers with the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ).
Apart from the JLP and the PNP, the Jamaica Progressive Party (JPP), which recently announced an alliance with the Jamaica First Movement (JFM), has indicated that it will be nominating at least 60 candidates. There will also be some independent candidates.
No official announcement of the total number of candidates has yet been made by the EOJ.
Supporter of Jamaica’s two main political parties on Nomination Day (CMC Photo)Meanwhile, the Jamaica Debates Commission (JDC) has written to both major political parties expressing disappointment about public comments made regarding discussions surrounding the arrangements for the election debates.
In the letter to the parties, the Commission’s Chairman, Brian Schmidt, said “As it was specifically requested and agreed by both parties that the negotiations be held in confidence, the JDC is extremely disappointed at this breach.
“We owe it to the Jamaica public to proceed with the agreed programme of activities in good faith and with appropriate confidentiality.”
The JLP’s General Secretary Dr Horace Chang rejected claims the party had breached protocol and issued a public statement to the media concerning discussions involving both major political parties and the Jamaica Debates Commission.
“We issued no statement to the media on the issue. The position of the Jamaica Labour Party is that all journalists who add value to the process should be allowed to participate in the National Political Debates and this is a matter for the Debates Commission to adjudicate upon.”
But the PNP chair, Colin Campbell, noted that the JDC had explicitly asked both parties not to comment publicly on the matter until it had completed its deliberations.
“The PNP respected that request. I discussed the matter only with our Campaign Director, Dr Dayton Campbell, and neither of us made any public comment. The JLP, however, chose to breach that agreement and then misled the public through inaccurate press statements,” he added.
Last week, Schmidt said that the two main political parties have agreed to participate in three debates ahead of the September 3 general election.
According to the EOJ, 2,077,799 people are eligible to vote in the upcoming general election with political observers saying that 20 swing states could determine the outcome of the elections.
Since gaining universal adult suffrage in 1944, Jamaica has held 18 general elections with both parties winning on nine occasions each.
