Dear Editor,

People’s National Party’s (PNP) President Mark Golding has shown that if you unite and build your party you don’t need popularity to win. Consequently, the next general election will be decided by party and personalities.

In the 2020 General Election it was clear that Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Leader Andrew Holness’s popularity carried some candidates over the line. It was also clear that the JLP’s attacks on former PNP President Dr Peter Phillips worked well and led to a bitter leadership race in 2019. A once-in-a-lifetime pandemic called COVID-19 assisted with the defeat, ultimately, of Dr Phillips.

Image-wise Golding is not the best, but clearly the people are not focused on image or colour, they care which party is better for them in the next general election. Golding is way below his party, the JLP, and Holness, in terms of favourability, according to the polls, but his party is leading and that is the most important factor now.

Currently Golding and the PNP have candidates in constituencies ready to contest the next general election. It will be difficult for the PNP to win 18 seats, but nothing is impossible. The 2024 General Election will be about the Cs: candidates, crime, corruption, and cost of living.

The JLP campaign in 2016 was a prosperity message, in 2020 it was give the JLP a second term; I hope 2024 is not the third term loading nonsense that I see on social media. Winning a third consecutive general election was achieved by only former PNP President PJ Patterson in 1993, 1997, and 2002, and was done when the Edward Seaga-led JLP was engaged in a civil war. The current PNP civil war is basically over and they seem to be united now.

The JLP needs to focus on attacking the PNP by showing its accomplishments over the two terms and comparing it to all governments post-1962. Furthermore, the JLP can stop the PNP’s momentum by winning the upcoming local government election and renewing the party by having by-elections in Trelawny Southern, St Ann North Eastern, and St Catherine South Western.

Raising the income tax threshold to over $2.5 million will also give the JLP enough ammunition to make its way first across the finish line in 2024. I hope they don’t wait too long to get this done.

The JLP Members of Parliament need to understand that this time around incumbency and the leader’s coat-tail may not be enough to carry them over the line.

Teddylee Gray

teddylee.gray@gmail.com

Ocho Rios, St Ann