Warmington urges party workers to ‘make ourselves ready’ for general election
Published:Monday | May 26, 2025 | 12:05 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Member of Parliament for St Catherine South West, Everald Warmington has issued a rallying call to party workers, urging them to unite and intensify their mobilisation efforts.
He argued that sustained coordination at the grassroots level of the party is crucial to securing victory in the upcoming general election.
“Our mission is to win election. We must make ourselves ready in order to achieve this objective. Tireless effort will be necessary on the path of all party functionaries, at every level at the party organisation to operate as an integrated unit,” Warmington stated during a recent constituency conference in South East St Mary.
His call echoes similar sentiments expressed last month by JLP Chairman Robert Montague, who underscored the need for increased groundwork as the ruling party prepares for the polls.
It also came in the wake of tensions over candidate selection in St Andrew North Central, which resulted in JLP supporters and workers from the constituency confronting General Secretary Dr Horace Chang at the party’s Belmont Road headquarters in St Andrew last week.
SUPPRESS PERSONAL INTEREST
“In any vibrant organisation, there’ll be differences of opinion, but critical to any strategy must be the willingness of individuals within the team to suppress personal interest in order to strengthen the party,” Warmington told party supporters.
Stating that every constituency has a “hardcore of loyal and experienced workers”, he stressed that it was important that a full complement of workers be identified and trained for each polling division. These workers, he said, will then be assigned as polling division supervisors, polling division captains, indoor and outdoor agents, and runners.
He charged the workers to present “an image of a united team, working in unison towards one objective”.
While outlining the various roles and responsibility of each worker, Warmington, who is also chairman of the JLP’s Area Council Two, emphasised the need for requisite training.
“To rely on the service of runners only on election day is to put victory at risk,” he said. He described the runners as the “eyes and ears” of the candidate, stating that they should be working continuously, submitting regular reports to the polling division captain, who will then report to the candidate.
A candidate with an “impeccable’ image is integral to the party’s victory in the constituency, Warmington stated, noting that it is candidate’s responsibility to ensure the party’s influence is maintained.
“Sustained success will only attain those candidates who display a sincere commitment to selfless service to the people and a determination to improve their quality of life. To contribute in the process of nation building through political representation is the most noble of all endeavours,” he said.
Stating that “there is no room in contemporary politics for a one-man campaign”, Warmington further asserted the importance of having the candidate have a cohesive and committed team.
“A well-run campaign is the application of all the techniques and resources designed to maximise the chance of winning the seat. It has to be a broad-based multi-pronged operation with many activities taking place, [so] as to ensure that the campaign is making the maximum impact on the voters in the constituency,” he said.