THE governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) said yesterday that it has postponed its annual conference until next February.

JLP general secretary, Dr Horace Chang, in a release yesterday, said that the conference will now be held on February 26.

He said that the decision is based on the party’s desire to focus fully on the upcoming local government election.

“We have all our candidates in place, and we are supremely confident that our candidates will be successful,” Dr Chang said.

The JLP normally holds its annual conference in November; however, there was speculation as to whether it would go ahead with the conference this year, in light of the local government elections scheduled for November 28.

Local Government and Community Development Minister Desmond McKenzie confirmed in an interview with the

Jamaica Observer on Monday that the party would skip the conference this month in order to focus on its election campaign.

McKenzie said that the party is satisfied with its “on the ground” campaign which, he said, has energised its base and that it is now looking forward to getting out the votes on election day.

Chang agreed yesterday that the party was optimistic about winning the election, as it has demonstrated in government that it cares for the people of Jamaica.

“In just eight months we have done very well, and are confident that the people of Jamaica will extend their support to our local government prosperity partnership.”

He said that the party will ensure that after the election it is ready to move the local government system “to a more accountable and responsive position”.

The party has also noted that the new conference date is two days after the anniversary of the birth of its founder Sir Alexander Bustamante, who was born on February 24, 1884, and that he will be remembered at the event.