EDITORIAL - After today's vote

The easy bit will be accomplished today. Then comes the job of healing a historically fractious party whose papered-over divisions have been broken open, and worsened, by this contest. At the same time, the party has to be made relevant to Jamaican voters.

That, in broad terms, is the challenge facing either Andrew Holness or Audley Shaw, whichever of them emerges as the leader of the 70-year-old Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) after just over 5,100 delegates cast their ballots.

The problem for the party is that the campaign leading up to today's election has hardly been edifying.

While Mr Shaw has issued a document of shibboleths, we have discerned from his platform three fundamental reasons for his challenge of Mr Holness' two-year leadership of the JLP:

That in 22 months since the JLP lost the government, Mr Holness has been insufficiently aggressive in challenging the policies of the Simpson Miller administration;

That Mr Holness has failed to politically rejuvenate the JLP; and

That having twice previously surrendered his personal leadership ambition for the sake of others, circumstances now impelled him to go forward.

quietly attempting to reform the JLP

Essentially, Mr Holness' retort is that he has been quietly attempting to reform the JLP, steering it way from the politics of tension and instability to an organisation that is more cerebral and policy-driven. He has, however, been undermined by cabals within the party.

Unfortunately, the critical arguments of either side have been underpinned by arguments of substance. They have offered little by way of concrete proposals for dealing with Jamaica's immediate economic crisis, or what they would do differently should the JLP form the government.

Mr Shaw, the finance minister under whose watch an agreement with the International Monetary Fund collapsed, has been critical of the current Government's new agreement with the Fund that demands fiscal austerity. It is not clear whether he would dump this agreement, or how, other than what is being done, he would seek to deal with the Government's debt of nearly 150 per cent of GDP.

It is clear to this newspaper that these are critical issues that the JLP leader must begin to address as early as tomorrow, if the party wishes to be perceived by Jamaicans as a credible alternative to the People's National Party. The issue of energy and programmes to drive investment must be part of that agenda.

But that is not all. For the new leader will have the difficulty of exercising his mandate with restraint and inclusiveness, while seeking to reform the party. This will require skill, but will only be possible if there is a willingness by those who lost not to be embraced and not to be disruptive.

All this must take place while the leader demonstrates a revitalisation programme, including the sidelining of people whose behaviour and reputations negatively affect the image of the JLP. The leader must attempt to attract bright, new talent.

The intention of the leader will be quickly revealed by those he draws near and to whom he listens. Our message, we insist, is pertinent.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.