Golding urges Comrades not to ‘sell out’ to JLP in Portland
Published:Saturday | July 5, 2025 | 12:10 AMKimone Francis/Senior Staff Reporter
Opposition Leader Mark Golding is urging People’s National Party (PNP) supporters not to succumb to pressure he said will come from the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) for their votes in the coming general election.
Golding, who was speaking at the opening of the PNP’s constituency office in Portland Eastern on Thursday, said the current Holness administration is “uncaring” and “corrupt” and does not deserve to govern the Jamaican people.
“Comrades, I ask you to be steadfast. I ask you to be focused. I ask you to be determined. I ask you not to sell out you, your families, your communities, your parish or your sweet island home. They will come with all manner of things to try to persuade you not to do the right thing but we are blood and fire Comrades and we believe in love and where love abides we can move forward in unity and do the right thing.
“I have every confidence that the Comrades and the PNP generally in this constituency will, in the great name and memory of Dr Lynvale Bloomfield, step forward and deliver a victory for the People’s National Party,” said Golding.
Bloomfield, who was a medical doctor, was murdered while serving his second term as the member of parliament (MP) in February 2019.
The JLP’s Ann-Marie Vaz subsequently defeated the PNP’s Damion Crawford in a crucial by-election that drew national attention. Vaz secured a full mandate in the COVID-19-impacted election in 2020 and is seeking another term in parliamentary polls due by September.
Prior to Vaz’s victory, the JLP last won the seat in the 1980 election.
Attorney-at-law Isat Buchanan is the PNP’s new candidate.
Golding told supporters that they are on the cusp of delivering a new day for the parish, signalling the opposition party’s intent to secure both Portland Eastern and Portland Western at the polls.
The PNP’s Doreen Campbell Forbes is challenging fourth-term MP Daryl Vaz, who currently serves as the energy and transport minister.
“You have Doreen in the west and Isat in the east. We are looking for a double victory because we want the whole parish to come back into the fold, where it belongs, of the People’s National Party,” Golding said.
“I know there will be some weeping and moaning and gnashing of teeth come election night when they get the surprise of their lives and see that the people of Jamaica have rejected the Andrew Holness administration and the third term will only be a prison term…” the opposition leader said.