JAMAICA Labour Party (JLP) Leader and Prime Minister Andrew Holness has scoffed at claims that his Administration delayed calling the local government election because it was afraid of defeat.

The election was due in 2020 but was postponed on three occasions by the Holness Administration before being called for February 26, just two days before the extended deadline that has been granted by Parliament.

Since then the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has repeatedly claimed that it forced the Government to name the date.

“We put the man in a corner so him have fi call this election. Him couldn’t run weh, him couldn’t dodge it, him couldn’t hide from it — him had to call it,” declared PNP President Mark Golding during a party meeting in his St Andrew Southern constituency last Sunday.

“The Constitution of Jamaica says there must be a democratic system of local governance. An’ me know seh when you supposed to have an election for councillors from 2020 an’ yu a go come in 2024 and them a postpone it, postpone it…and me know seh nutten couldn’t go suh, and me tell ’im seh: ‘Yow, we serious enough, man. Wi a go tek it to court and mek dem gi you a beating, man’,” added Golding.

He told the Comrades that the Holness Administration did not want to call the election, and pointed to the crowd inside Tony Spaulding Sports Complex in the heart of Arnett Gardens — the bedrock of his constituency — as part of the reason the Government wanted to avoid going to the polls.

But responding to questions from journalists after accompanying the three people to be nominated to contest the three divisions in his St Andrew West Central constituency on Thursday, Holness declared that he had considered calling the election from as far back as 2020.

“The intention was, from my point, in 2020 when we called the general election, I wanted to call the local government election at the same time. In fact, we made arrangements for it…and you will recall that we made amendments to the law to do it, so we never feared any election, we wanted to do it.

“There was a sense, both in the Opposition, and our councillors, that this would be new, first time it was going to be done, and it was going to be done in a pandemic, it could create outcomes that nobody would be able to predict and so the view was, don’t call both of them together…,” added Holness.

He told journalists that in hindsight maybe the Government should have called the local government election at that time.

Holness further argued that coming out of 2020 with new strains of the COVID-19 virus being discovered, which prompted the Government to introduce severe lockdowns and the economic fallout which resulted, the Jamaican people did not seem in the mood to contend with another election at that time.

“And that is just the reality, and that in itself shows why it may be very difficult to have a fixed election date in our system,” said Holness, who had earlier argued that while a fixed election date might be ideal there are several thorny issues to be worked out before that could be done in Jamaica.

Meanwhile, after accompanying the PNP candidates to the nomination centre in his St Andrew Southern constituency, Golding declared confidence that his party would win the local government election.

He also appealed to Jamaicans to ensure that the election was peaceful.

“I just want each and everyone to stay calm and just think about Jamaica first. Exercise their very important rights as citizens of this country to choose their local representatives, that’s what this is about. There’s no need for aggression, no need for any kind of bad behaviour,” he said.