Dear Editor,

The recent election, I believe, is the first time in our history that we have a party that lost the popular vote and most divisions and ended up winning.

Currently the local government is a razor-thin 7-6 majority in favour of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

In the wake of this election the People’s National Party (PNP) will become more unified and have greater confidence in its leadership. Even though on paper the JLP has won, the bragging rights go to the PNP for winning the popular vote by over three per cent, winning more divisions, and gaining control of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation.

The JLP, based on the numbers, was on course to be wiped out if they didn’t take their campaign to another level in the last week leading up to the polls. The party started out believing these elections to be just another day and a bigger victory. I believe when it hit the ground it realised it was in trouble and decided to turn the elections into a macro-level debate.

I am one of those JLP supporters who did not vote. My reasons for not voting are the party is not listening, the members seemed to have believed they were invincible, the forced COVID-19 vaccination drive, and no changes in the second-tier leadership of the JLP for over a decade now.

I believe it is safe to say the PNP was strong in urban areas while the JLP was strong in the rural areas, for which the party can rejoice. The urban areas are clearly not buying this macro-level economy message from the JLP because they are feeling it the most. The rural areas are either becoming JLP territories or still have hope in the JLP.

Hopefully the data analysts dissects the information for the nation. The only way a party can win the popular vote and end up losing is because its divisions are more populated. The divisions of St Catherine, Clarendon, St James, St Mary, St Ann, St Thomas, Portland, St Elizabeth, Trelawny, and Manchester were dominated by the JLP. The PNP could only argue that they did well in the rural divisions of Westmoreland, Hanover, and Manchester.

The JLP needs to change its messaging to the urban areas. Cost of living is higher in these areas and the unemployment rate is very high; therefore, inflation will impact them the most. So preaching to them about fiscal responsibility and gross domestic product growth alone just cannot work. Proposing to increase the income tax threshold to $2 million is probably what saved the JLP.

The PNP needs to tweak its messaging to the rural areas. Popular votes don’t win a local government or general election. The PNP could win the popular vote in the next general election and still lose.

Teddylee Gray

teddylee.gray@gmail.com