THE biggest winner in the election is the working class. Election 2011 was not about the IMF or economy; it was class war! The JLP produced an excess of vitriol targeting Portia; a battle between two Jamaicas — uptown, male, Anglicised, airs and affectations; downtown where women rule in a misogynistic society (paradox?) men “vex” but women are “virago”; men “drop licks” women “kibber mout”; men “drop seed all bout” women are “sluts”.

The real issues were deep, unsaid and did not solidify for the massive (our people as one) until just before the poll. Manifesto was zilch — JLP would continue, the PNP would review. Slice it, dice it, same difference. I didn’t foresee a landslide, but Portia hit a nerve which clarified the campaign trash; the issue was class.

I spoke with Don Anderson in the hardware one day as the uber professional who got it right — the “why” was elusive. Physics explains why a billion grains of sand congregate to make a beach, but why did people vote PNP?

It started as a contest with the JLP ahead, fed by a flow of effective gutter advertising and snobbery; but when the big spend peaked, the gap narrowed. Shock! The tower of filth was so high it toppled on itself.

Neck and neck and in the final metres the verities shifted. My inbox told me a thread of resentment at JLP’s Portia adverts grew into a fabric. I did not get the meaning until much later “every jibe at Portia was a blow at the massive”; so convincing that when she spoke — measured, thoughtful — many could not believe.

What, they said she was dumb! So what else is a lie? It was unravelling. Then Portia hit a nerve; parson and JLP went berserk supposedly to help God, but the massive was not in it. After 49 years of unmitigated grief you now diss the “queen” of the disadvantaged? The massive hit back.

This election will be remembered. It stirred emotions like Busta’s “small island can’t rule us”. They know the PNP will cut a slice for the massive even if the cake shrinks. It is the DNA of the party. The massive is risk-averse; faced with a strange man, with strange habits who makes strange decisions and says no to change. Vote with your gut! They gave the JLP a bloody nose “Why are you in politics if not to help the massive? Ignore downtown and you are “dead meat!”. This was won in 10 days.

BOTH leaders were virgins — none had led an electoral victory, yet both had held the PM job. They were equals up to the final run. Andrew had the debate edge and I was shocked the gay issue worked well for Portia. My e-mails told me she tapped a vein of tolerance.

This lady got more comfort from Portia than parson. I was in tears. Damn parson! They were close but Portia, buoyed by this late tailwind, was closing on the tape faster than Andrew. Elections are won weeks before; not this one!

LOW voter turnout cannot be dismissed as a global phenomenon. The massive is fair and forgiving, know when people take advantage, defend their own, even in party elections. Some think as Bush Jr ran the US, every clown here can be an MP. Not so! The USA is prosperous, so to run it is relatively easy. We need skilled MPs to build prosperity from scratch. Voter apathy is not the same here as where people get house, child support, health care, education for free.

Why don’t we vote? It does not affect our condition! We voted in 15 polls and are poorer than in 1962. Can we fix it? JEEP may save uptown from downtown’s despair. We need useful, labour-rich projects and moreso the “Big Idea”. More anon.

ELECTION 2011 was like 1962. When I said Portia was more like Busta than Norman you chuckled. We start our second 50 years as our first — a PM with smarts and charisma after a referendum on class. No campaign will ever be like this; or MP elected without his CV and job description; no retreat from the youth agenda; the dawn of a better day for politics!

GOING forward the big picture is key and her majority means Portia can be incisive. Every MP needs to buy into the prerequisites to building prosperity — massive input to education, food, 10 million tourists, export, security — more anon. Government is the catalyst to growth and must lead. It can’t be business as usual in the civil service; but it can’t be “slash and burn” either; the service needs innovation and missionary managers.

Portia’s ministers are crucial as is their top management team. Prosperity is when the massive does well and feels well. The State sets the example in its production and service ministries and investment follows.

THE JLP temporise with special pleading of voter registration. Andrew, a fine young man, not my choice. Will he last? What’s his watering hole? He inhaled? What’s his brew? The JLP has a basic flaw. Kamina Johnson was praised for the JLP manifesto at its launch, so give her two years to draft JLP philosophy — the party mantra. It is too ectoplasmic to rival the PNP on trust issues. No need to oppose the PNP. If like Social Democrats and Christian Democrats your values are close, use policy as a discriminator. A solid party mantra will build voters’ trust.

ANDREW needs a sabbatical. Dr Capildeo (math and physics genius) did so as opposition leader in T&T. An attachment abroad — President Obama, campus or big firm; spend six months abroad during House recesses, get experience and ideas. If not the PNP turks coming from big firms and abroad by the 2016 polls will eat you for breakfast.

THE PNP now have a second chance to make a first impression. Stop the self-referential back-patting which detract from embedded PNP roots in social justice and fairness which carried the massive. Voters who rebated 18 underperforming years and said “take the wheel again” did not do so to please organisers. The 11th is like unto this “do not diss the massive”. Selah!

To Portia I gift Nicky Thomas’ “Living in the love of the common people”. They re-run old innuendoes which imploded; Portia as herself disproved the “dumb blonde”-type tales; so voters asked, “What else is a lie?” It was downhill from there. Granny say “yu see how fambily cuss one a nedder, yu don’t try it or dem all tun pan yu an nyam yu!”

The icon “crash programme” is the bane of the middle class but a blessing to the jobless; of course some of the shiftless broom leaners also benefit, as if you keep cow expect to have some ticks. So, my friend, elections are over; wash your face, put away your colours. Next week we will view for the 16th time the hill we climb to prosperity. Life is a bitch! Have a conscious New Year!

Dr Franklin Johnston is a strategy advisor and project manager. franklinjohnstontoo@gmail.com