A senior member of Jamaica’s opposition, the People’s National Party (PNP), has speculated that the Andrew Holness administration is planning to postpone the country’s local government elections for a fourth time.
The local government elections are due by February 28. It has been postponed three times since 2020, when it should have been held. The election, by law, is to be held every four years. It was last held in 2016.
General Secretary of the PNP, Dr. Dayton Campbell claimed that sources have indicated that there is a plan by the government to again postpone the local government election until after the national budget debate in March.
Campbell, who was speaking on Monday during a press conference, said the government’s plan is to “continue this tour of making wild promises to the people of Jamaica.”
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, the leader of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), declared that his party was ready to contest the elections.
But Campbell asserted that if the JLP was ready, there would be no delay in announcing the date.
“The truth is that if they were so confident, they would have announced an election. A party that is confident of winning an election doesn’t continue to postpone it serially,” he said.
Campbell urged the government not to trample on the democratic process “that we fought hard for as a country, and announce the (date for) the local government election.”
In the meantime, he said that the PNP has been making its own preparations to secure a win.
“We’re confident that the people of Jamaica are calling for a change, and we’re confident that that change begins with the local government election, which, when they call it, we will win it,” he declared.
The Electoral Office of Jamaica said it is also in preparation, with the recruitment of election-day workers currently underway.
