THE leaders of Jamaica’s two main political parties are oozing with confidence following yesterday’s nomination of candidates for Local Government Elections later this month.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, dressed in the party’s orange garb, lent full support to the three candidates in her St Andrew South West constituency at Greenwich All-Age School, while underscoring the importance of the preservation and improvement of the local government system.

Opposition Leader Andrew Holness in the meantime also came out to back his three Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidates in his St Andrew West Central constituency, poking fun at the running of the country by the two-month-old People’s National Party administration and sounding a note of optimism that his party will be triumphant in the March 26 polls.

Simpson Miller, spurred on by scores of party supporters who lined Spanish Town Road and its environs to cheer on the PNP team, said that the PNP would take no chance in going all out to win.

“I have mobilised the leaders of the party that we have work to do and we need to support the work of our councillor candidates,” Simpson Miller told the Observer.

“Local government is critical to governance on a whole. Local government is close to the ground, closer to the people, and councillors are even closer to the people than those in Central Government, some of whom are occupied running other areas of Government on a day-to-day basis.

“I place serious prominence on local government. Local government is paramount to the direction of our country. There must be a strong focus on community development, and this can only benefit our country,” Simpson Miller said.

The PNP president was at the school to back the candidacy of three incumbent councillors, who are unlikely to lose what political observers regard as extremely safe seats.

Karl Blake is seeking his third term as councillor for the Greenwich Town Division of the KSAC. He will face the JLP’s Maureen Lorne. Fellow incumbents Eugene Kelly of the Whitfield Division, and Audrey Smith of the Payne Land Division will go up against the JLP’s Carlos King (Whitfield) and Devon Clarke (Payne Land).

Holness, in the meantime, is insisting that although the JLP was soundly beaten by the PNP in the December 29, 2011 General Election, there was likely to be a turnaround in the municipal race.

“People have also been saying that they need to balance the power in the country and send a signal to the PNP, which is turning up all the things that are negative,” he said.

“We should not use the general election as a basis to see who will win. Performance of the council (KSAC) determines that. In the case of the KSAC, the leadership has done an excellent job of managing the urban affairs. We are confident of winning the majority of local government seats in this constituency.

“We don’t see the momentum of the PNP following through in this election. People want service. It is performance that will matter,” Holness said outside the Waltham Educational Centre, the constituency’s nomination centre.

Holness said that the party had ironed out certain issues related to selection of candidates.

“The concerns have been resolved. Both parties had their share of issues, but I think that the PNP had more. What happened showed that democracy is alive. We are focusing on hand-to-hand campaigning for this one and some people have said to me that they made an error by not voting for the JLP in the General Election and will vote in this one.

“The problems are increasing, the exchange rate is slipping, and crime is increasing,” Holness said.

The JLP controls two of three KSAC seats in St Andrew West Central.

Incumbent Delroy Williams is confident of securing his third term as councillor for the Seivwright Gardens Division when he goes up against the PNP’s Ray Alexander and minority party candidates Margaret Elizabeth Groves of the Ethiopian Family Reunion House, and Allan Mitchell, who will represent the Marcus Garvey People’s Progressive Party.

Bus operator Christopher Townsend will wear green for the JLP in the traditional Labour Party stronghold of Olympic Gardens, facing up to the prayers of the PNP’s Rev Pauline Wilson, pastor of the Model Church of God in Greenwich Town.

The pro-PNP division of Molynes Gardens will see the man who Holness defeated, Patrick Roberts, facing Glendon Salmon, who lost to the PNP’s Junior Stewart in the 2007 Local Government Election. Stewart is bowing out of politics.