President of the People’s National Party (PNP) Mark Golding will have a tough time wooing the electorate by virtue of his complexion being much fairer than that of the average Jamaican.

This is the view Millholland Barker, vice-chairman of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) executive in the St Catherine North West constituency.

“He (Golding) is not of the same type of colour that we have — not that I have a problem, but Jamaica is different. Jamaica likes a certain colour and, if yuh don’t have that colour, yuh inna problem,” he claimed on Sunday during his constituency conference held at Ewarton High School.

To bolster his position, Barker alluded to late former JLP leader and Prime Minister Edward Seaga, whom he said could attest to suffering politically because he was not of a dark shade. “The greatest planner we had was Seaga, but him did have a certain colour,” he asserted.

Barker also implied that Golding’s complexion is among factors could negatively affect his entire team, considering the general impact that a party leader should have on his slate of candidates. “Governments don’t win election; a party win it,” he emphasised.

“… The PNP have a bigger problem because they have a leader that dem can’t even sell to themselves much less to the little man pon di corner,” added Barker, who recently ceased being the JLP candidate in the Ewarton Division, following repeated defeat at the polls.

Barker did not mention the late Prime Minister and PNP Leader Michael Manley who was immensely popular despite being of the same complexion as Golding and Seaga.

His constituency chairman, Newton Amos, in the meantime, told the Jamaica Observer that he does not think a party leader’s colour influences or should influence the electorate’s perception.

“I don’t think that colour has anything to do with our politics here in Jamaica. Our anthem explicitly treats with that. I don’t want to bring that into it because it has no bearing or any relevance to our politics. Whoever wants to represent the people, as long as they are able and capable, they are among those that should put themselves for service,” he said.