Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the Government intends to fulfil its Constitutional duties concerning local government elections, signalling that voters should prepare to head to the polls.

“The Government intends to fulfil the Constitutional requirements and the Constitution as it relates to local government elections. They have set a date, it has been postponed. If there is need, if something happens, if there is an exogenous shock or weather events then certainly that has to be considered,” Holness said.

Holness made these remarks during a media briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister on Thursday morning.

Local Government Elections, constitutionally scheduled every four years, were last held in November 2016. Initially planned for November 2020, they were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, despite general elections taking place two months earlier in September of that year.

In February, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Desmond McKenzie, announced the third postponement of the elections.

With the polls being put off for up to February 28, 2024, McKenzie said that the Government needed more time to carry out consultations around draft legislation to establish Portmore as Jamaica’s 15th parish.

The bill to postpone the polls also cited “the high level of monetary cost of holding the elections” and “building resilience to possible future shocks as well as setting the country on a path of sustained growth”.

READ: Local Gov’t Elections postponed until Feb 28, 2024

In response to the repeated postponements, Mark Golding, President of the People’s National Party, issued a warning that his party would take the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) to court if the local government elections were further delayed in February 2024. Golding expressed concerns about extending the terms of existing councillors and the potential implications for democratic local governance.

Golding urged the government to hold the elections as soon as possible and cautioned against any attempts to postpone them beyond the specified timeline, emphasising the importance of adhering to the principles of democracy.

“Now let me tell you, if them feel them can extend it again we are going to take them to court and we are going to test the constitutionality of that because if they try it again they would be extending the term of the existing councillors by 100 per cent on spurious grounds and I am very confident that our courts will not allow that to happen because that cannot be consistent with a democratic system of local governance,” he said.

“So I’m warning them no bother try that again. Call the local government election before the time come for the end of this one-year period, which was put in place in February on bogus grounds,” he added

He urged the government to call the elections as soon as possible.

READ: Golding threatens legal action if 2024 local gov’t elections delayed again