Despite the high level of voter apathy that is evidenced in the low voter turnout each election cycle, neither of Jamaica’s two main political parties – the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) nor the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) views this as a “collective rejection” of them or their policies.

Representatives of the parties offered their views during Thursday night’s televised debate, one of two organised by the Jamaica Debates Commission ahead of the February 26 local government election. The other debate will be held tonight.

In responding to a social media question about whether the continued low voter turnout is a rejection of the parties, the PNP’s Allan Bernard who is contesting the Montego Bay North-East Division said no.

“This I wouldn’t interpret as a rejection. What I see happening especially at the local government [level] is a systematic exclusion of citizens from the process. That is where the politics starts, at the local level,” Bernard said before blaming the JLP for the low turnout.

Said Bernard: “It is the case that institutions that were established within the local government process have been dismantled by the Jamaica Labour Party – from the National Association of Parish Development Committees, to the Parish Development Committees themselves, SDC (Social Development Committee) being neutered, community development committees being hijacked, you have no other result than people becoming disenchanted with the process”.

Using the PNP’s campaign slogan, Bernard said ‘Time Come’ for citizen participation in local government. He promised that “all municipalities under a PNP Administration come post-February 26 will ensure that the people, the citizen, remain or return to the centre of this process. We’ve done it before, we will do it again. Where people feel a part of the process they are more likely to turn out and vote”.

The PNP’s spokesperson on local government, Natalie Neita-Garvey who participated in the debate said “All politics is local and when the people don’t feel that you’re spending their money the right way because there’s no system of transparency or accountability or there’s a great level of corruption and arrogance as is seen from this Jamaica Labour Party Government then it only encourages them to say it’s for somebody else.

“We must get back to a place where people see government at work on their behalf”.

For her part, the JLP’s Venesha Phillips appealed to the electorate. She began with “Jamaica, apathy is real. We understand your frustration…” She then said she did not see low voter turnout as a rejection.

“I think it’s your message to us as political representatives on either side of the isle that you are fed up with low performance, you are fed up sometimes with the lack of accountability. So we understand that apathy is real, its’ real the world over”.

Phillip’s said the JLP’s approach to dealing with the issue is to “regain the trust of the electorate through performance, through engagement, through communication”.