WHILE beaming at the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) 7-5 win over the People’s National Party (PNP) in last Monday’s local government elections, Member of Parliament (MP) for Portland Western Daryl Vaz has accepted that several electors sent a message to the governing party to which it must listen and respond.

The PNP won the popular vote, flipped at least 16 divisions which were won by the JLP in 2016, and claimed the big prizes of control of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation and the Portmore mayoral race.

In addition, the JLP lost 0-7 in Hanover, a constituency where it has the two sitting MPs following wins in the last general election in 2020.

This prompted JLP leader, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, to admit in an interview on Nationwide News Network ( NNN) last Thursday evening that his party underperformed in the local government elections and its base did not come out.

“There are many issues which could have contributed to that, as I have said — frustration, grievances, and all kinds of issues — and those have to be properly analysed. In any event, even if we did not have a local government election going into a general election we would have had to analyse what the current state of play is. You now have the best poll in the local government… to tell you where you are and what you need to do,” Holness said in response to questions from veteran journalist and founder of
NNN Cliff Hughes.

According to Holness, while the PNP’s base came out, it was still unable to defeat the JLP in terms of the number of councils won.

Earlier Thursday, responding to questions from the Jamaica Observer about the party’s performance in last Monday’s local government elections, Vaz said the results must be analysed objectively.

“It could have been worse. I think the fact that we were able to hold on to seven [municipal corporations] is significant,” Vaz said, and reflected on the 20-20 tie in Kingston and St Andrew, noting that the municipality “has always been a battleground” as in the 2016 Local Government Elections the JLP won the municipality 21-19 but in this year’s contest the popular vote went to the PNP.

Analysing the 6-7 loss in St Mary, Vaz said “it could easily have been 9-4 just by the fact of a few votes”.

“But the fact is that we must not lose sight that this is a very, very strong message that is being sent to the Andrew Holness-led Administration, in that we need to make sure that the governance and the policies of Government and all the good that we are doing as a Government, reaches to the people — and I think that’s where the divide is in relation to the results of the election,” added Vaz.

He argued that while no one can question the performance of this Government, in terms of its policies and the fiscal management of the country, there is room for tweaks.

“The fact of the matter is that you have to win at the political level to be [the] Government, and therefore, concentrating on good governance and not paying attention to the base of your party will result in situations like what we face,” said Vaz.

The veteran politician said while he had not yet discussed the performance of the JLP in the election with his colleagues, he will be making his assessment (which he has been making for some time) and sharing his thoughts with the party.

“This [election result] has…reaffirmed some of what the conclusions [are] that I have arrived at by being someone who stays on the ground — and that will be told very clearly [and] in my usual style [so] that it cannot be misunderstood,” Vaz told the Sunday Observer.

He said the local government results would have more impact on the thinking inside the party than any discussions it would have had, and he expects the party to do some introspection about what needs to be done and what changes will have to be made in terms of policy or personnel, bearing in mind the general election which is constitutionally due by next year.

According to Vaz, time is on the side of the JLP to make any changes it needs to before Jamaicans return to the polls, despite the procurement issues that sometimes delay projects which will benefit the people.