JLP still has the shine to retain St Ann, says commentator
Published:Friday | December 10, 2021 | 12:06 AMCarl Gilchrist/Gleaner Writer
Political commentator, attorney-at-Law Linton P. Gordon, believes the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) still has enough shine from its 2020 general election victory over the People’s National Party (PNP) to perform well in St Ann in the upcoming local government election.
The JLP has a 11-5 majority in the St Ann Municipal Corporation, after the 2016 local government election, a reversal of the 2012 result when the PNP won by that margin.
Gordon told The Gleaner that councillors in St Ann have largely failed to impress the electorate convincingly, but believes the JLP could retain the advantage with a reduced majority.
“I think the first thing we should always remember is that generally, the local government election is usually less favourable to the party that had just won general election because there might be what you call a loss of shine. However, in this case it might not be too telling unless there is some new development for the simple reason that the PNP, having lost the election, spent their energy infighting rather than reorganising and working towards recovery,” Gordon pointed out.
Gordon said the PNP recently took some small steps to smooth things out by appointing some persons who were out, but blamed PNP leader Mark Golding for not acting swiftly to quell the disturbances.
“Having not done that, I do not think the JLP’s shine will be reduced in the election as far as is usually the case when there is a local government election,” said Gordon.
Gordon mentioned the JLP’s Ian Isaacs of the Exchange division and the PNP’s Ian Bell of the Beecher Town division as doing “exceptionally hard, high performance” work in their divisions.
“But apart from that, I don’t see the PNP potential councillors and sitting councillors putting out as much as they need to put out in order to attract attention and to dent the shine of the ruling party in Parliament, a shine that is usually reduced in local government elections.”
PNP not doing sufficient work
Quizzed about the JLP retaining control of the municipality and numbers for each party, Gordon said: “It is not impossible for them (JLP) to retain it because there is no evidence that the PNP is doing sufficient work.
“But I would say, in summary, the shine that is usually rubbed off the ruling party in local government election might not be as significantly rubbed off or erased in this upcoming election for the following reasons: the division in the PNP and the failure of their local government representative to be active, to be well known and to have any significant policy; and the electorates are not attracted to divided parties with internal squabbles.”
He said the same squabbling that kept the JLP out of power for 18 years is what the PNP is taking up instead of walking away from.
“It’s such a frightening reality of political leadership failure,” Gordon said.
Regarding the final standing of the two parties in the election, Gordon said it would be hard to predict numbers.
“It’s hard to predict but the PNP might win back one or two, but I don’t think they will come hard enough to take back the council from the JLP,” Gordon suggested.