NEW YORK, USA — Jamaicans here have been reacting to the pending leadership race within the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), following Sunday’s announcement by senior party member Audley Shaw that he will be challenging leader Andrew Holness for the top post.

Desmond Clarke, who heads the Jamaica National Movement, sees the development as being “healthy for the democratic process”. He noted that the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) has always used the democratic process to change its leaders and feels a similar process can work for the JLP.

Clarke said that it is going to be interesting to see the results and the kind of leadership that will emerge if Shaw is victorious.

In his reaction, Patrick Callum, president of the New York chapter of G2K — the group of young professionals affiliated to the JLP — said they are “monitoring the developments at this time”. He said that there is support within the Jamaican community here for both Shaw and Holness.

Meanwhile, he said that he does not think that the leadership race will hurt the party, and that the hope is that the JLP will “unite around a cohesive set of principles that can be used to lead the country”, once the race is over. He was noncommittal on which way the support of the group here is likely to go.

Also commenting on the pending leadership challenge, Roy Davidson, who heads the National Association of Jamaica and Supportive Organisations — the largest single Jamaican group here — said he feels that the challenge “is likely to strengthen the party” in a way that will allow it to play a more meaningful role in national development”.

Despite the fact that news of the pending challenge has been circulating within diaspora for weeks, along with Shaw’s announcement on Sunday, not everyone here has been paying attention.

Dr Sue Davis, head of the Diaspora Board for the Southern United States, said she could not comment on the issue, as “information on the matter has been limited”.