ANCHOVY, St James — Urging party supporters not to become complacent after recent favourable poll findings, People’s National Party (PNP) Senator Donna Scott-Mottley has called on Comrades to be ready for the possibility of local and general elections being held at the same time.

“I want you to know that although the prime minister [Andrew Holness] had said to you that he is going to call the local government election, you must prepare for anything,” she urged.

“Do not believe what he said, that he is going to call just the local government. I want to remind you that there has been a view that local government and general elections should be held at the same time. So, when we prepare, let us prepare to know that time come and let us do our work,” she added.

The phrase ‘time come’ is the PNP’s slogan as it readies for the polls.

The general election is due in 2025. Last held in 2016, local government elections have been postponed three times and are next constitutionally due by February 2024. The Government cited health concerns linked to the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for the first delay, and the pandemic’s impact on the country’s economic strength for the second. The PNP and other sections of society have questioned both those reasons, citing the holding of a general election during the pandemic and the Government’s own glowing report on how well the county has done post-pandemic.

The PNP has consistently said it is ready to go to the polls, a position recently bolstered by the results of a mid-term poll it commissioned. The survey showed the PNP ahead of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) by just over five percentage points, the first time in several years that the PNP has been ahead.

However, while addressing a St James Southern Constituency Conference at the Anchovy High School in the parish on Sunday, Scott-Mottley warned party supporters not to engage in too much celebration.

“Comrades, do not become too excited by the polls and feel that we are ready. The polls are just to motivate us to go out there and work hard to bring out our Comrades,” she said.

“You see, it is easy to say that people love us and [are] ready for us but I want to see that love translated into votes in the ballot box and that we will do when you, the Comrades, decide that time come,” added Scott-Mottley.