AS the local government elections draw closer, the Opposition People’s National Party ((PNP) has underscored its determination to secure a victory this time around after a 12-year dry spell.

Repeating his mantra since the election campaign started, PNP President Mark Golding told Comrades in Maverly in the crucial Hughenden Division that Monday, February 26 will be the “beginning of the end” for the Jamaica Labour Party-led Government.

Hughenden is one of the divisions which the PNP must win if it is to take control of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation, which it lost by two divisions in 2016, and Golding presented the party’s candidate Mark King as the man who will ensure the victory.

“The PNP hasn’t won an election since 2012. Twelve years now we don’t win an election. The last general election [the PNP won] was in 2011, the last local was 2012. A lot of the problems have been that our own people have not wanted to come out for whatever reasons, COVID and other things, and a lot of those things are solved now. We have a united team …[we] are out there working and I man, Mark Jefferson Golding, me a put in a double shift, because we want bring home the victory…Time come,” he said to loud cheers and energetic vuvuzela-blowing.

Golding however reminded Comrades that the PNP is depending on them to vote, and encouraged them to “come out like a united orange force and do the right thing”.

“We don’t win this thing until Monday itself when we get the votes in the box. So I am asking each and every one to stay very focused and very determined and we don’t celebrate because we don’t win it yet. We have to do the work on Monday, to make sure that we win it by the end of the day when the votes are counted,” he said.

In throwing his support behind King, Percival Braham, PNP caretaker for St Andrew North Western constituency, in which the Hughenden Division lies, said that “without a shadow of a doubt the people of the Hughenden Division are ready for Mark King to be the councillor”, but he reminded that their support needs to be translated to votes on election day.

“Let us take nothing for granted. Let us leave no stone unturned because we know the Labourites are setting for us, but we are setting for them too. So, come February 26, I want everybody to come out early and vote for Comrade Mark King. Put your x beside the head,” said Braham.

King, in a short address, asked supporters to make their party leader proud, by ensuring that the PNP wins by a large margin.

“I don’t want us to just win, but I want us to win big. I want us to send a message to the Jamaica Labour Party that time come… and all I am saying when we win this division, Nigel Clarke is next. Time come,” he said.

In the meantime, Golding also used the opportunity to take a jab at the ruling party’s leadership governance as he highlighted what he said were the problems in the education system and the health sector and promised to fix the issues as a PNP Government.

According to Golding, the education system is in crisis as more than 30 per cent of primary school children graduate and cannot read and write or do basic arithmetic.

“That is the source of many problems later in life, including the crime and violence problem too. We have to get to the foundation of those things. As a PNP Government, when we come in and fix those things so we can have a bright future for this generation and generations to come,” said Golding.

Turning to the health sector Golding said: “They spend the money, yes, or so they claim, but when you take a stock, you go into any public health facility and you need a bed, you need to be admitted, you can’t get a bed, you have to be sitting on a bench or on the floor or on a wheelchair for days, and many don’t survive that indignity.”

In the last local government election in 2016, the JLP’s Andrew Harris won the Hughenden Division, by securing 1,534 votes, while the PNP’s Ian Telfer received 1,281 votes. Harris is the JLP’s candidate to defend his seat against King.