JLP does not need to buy votes in St Mary by-election, says Holness
ST MARY, Jamaica — Prime Minister Andrew Holness told Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters in South Eastern St Mary last night, that the party did not need to buy votes to win the October 30 by-election.
“We will have an election that is conducted in the spirit and the letter of the law. The party that I lead will conduct itself, and hold itself to the highest standards of probity and accountability,” Holness told a mass of supporters packed into the square in Annotto Bay.
“We are going to show them that this is a by-election, not an election to be bought. We don’t need to buy this election in order to win. It is clear to the people of Jamaica that we have been a better government than the previous government,” he said.
“We are the party that understands the pulse of the Jamaican people, and the pulse of the Jamaican people says that they want to see better for themselves, and better for their children,” he added.
The Prime Minister was responding to suggestions from the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) that some $167 million, which the government plans to spend on rehabilitating the Junction main road in St Mary this month, may be used to win votes in the by-election.
Holness last night announced that the by-elections for three seats, currently vacant in the House of Representatives, will be held on Monday, October 30. Nominations will take place on Monday, October 9.
The three seats are South Western St Andrew and Southern St Andrew, where the MPs, former Prime Minister and leader of the PNP, Portia Simpson Miller, and her former cabinet colleague, Dr Omar Davis, resigned on June 29; and South Eastern St Mary, where MP, Dr Winston Green, also a PNP MP, died suddenly on August 14.
Both South Western St Andrew and Southern St Andrew, which are regarded PNP “garrisons”, are expected to be easily regained by the Opposition. However, South Eastern St Mary, which was won by five votes, after a final recount turned around the preliminary count, is expected to be closely contested.
Victory for the JLP in the St Mary constituency would give the government a 3-seat cushion in the House, where it now has a one-seat majority (32-31).
Balford Henry
