ST JAMES, Jamaica —Labelling certain members of the People’s National Party (PNP) as “power mongers” who want to obstruct progress, Prime Minister Andrew Holness has sought to temper discussions surrounding upcoming elections. This comes as a response to the Opposition’s insistence for him to “fly the gate”.

Speaking at a town hall meeting in Montego Bay, St James Wednesday night, Holness acknowledged the role that elections play in a democratic process but took the view that they must not disrupt the actual work being done by the government.

As he appealed to Jamaicans to be optimistic, he assured them that he was not merely delivering a pitch in preparation for the polls.

“Why is it that I’m saying to you, ‘don’t give up hope’? It is not because of what everybody feels, that somehow there is an election in the air. Everybody talking about elections, all of a sudden,” Holness told the crowd gathered at Harmony Beach Park.

“We are a democracy. When elections are due they are due,” he said in an apparent response to critics who have flayed his administration’s decision to delay the local government elections three times.

The government cited the then-raging COVID-19 pandemic for one postponement and a reluctance to upend the fragile economic recovery post-pandemic, as reasons for the last two postponements.

As he has done in the past, Holness argued Wednesday night that the delays were justified.

“We must not postpone and defer and interrupt our progress for election. Elections must be routine. They must be very short, orderly and seamless. And then you get back to business,” he said.

“But there are those who want to use elections to disrupt progress. So let me just say to you, my mind is not on election. My mind is on ensuring that those who were at the base of the society, who still have not yet felt the change that is happening, you will get the chance. Because your government is not taking its eyes off managing your business and your affairs. In other words, there are those who are power mongers. They just want power. They don’t necessarily believe in your progress. And the truth is that when they get power, they don’t know what to do with it,” he added.

Holness also urged the audience not to allow those seeking power to “feed” upon their frustration.

“There are many things to be frustrated about, many things, but what you don’t want to do is to disrupt the good governance, the good processes, the good management that is delivering the things that will make your life better,” the prime minister said.

Local government elections are constitutionally due by February and general elections are due by 2025.