There are at least two things which are crystal clear from the results of the February 26, 2024 Local Government Elections. First, it was close, and second, the level of active abstentions may now be at levels concerning to the Jamaican democracy project.

Most of the public and media focus has been on the question of who the winner was. But that misses the point.

Most participants in these discussions have held firmly to their positions without realising that the concept of parish council elections was abolished in 2016 with the enactment by Parliament of the Local Governance Act 2016, along with two other strategic laws which have become the new framework for local government administration in Jamaica.

There are no longer parish councils, but local municipal authorities of which there are three types: municipal corporations (MCs), city municipalities and town municipalities. There are only two types active in Jamaica today. The MCs exist in all parishes, with one known as the KSAMC serving Kingston and St Andrew, and another known as Portmore City Municipality — with a directly elected mayor — being a city municipality within the parish of St Catherine.

The Electoral Office of Jamaica’s reporting of the results on Friday, March 1, without accounting for the Portmore Municipality, was therefore wrong in law and may have contributed to the mass confusion which was at large in the post-election days.

The correct reporting of the results, in my opinion, is seven MCs to the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), six to the People’s National Party (PNP) and Portmore Municipality to the PNP. KSAMC is awarded to the PNP, even though the seats are even, by virtue of the popular vote in Kingston and St Andrew. That’s the treatment by law, not by any party determination. It is worth noting that in 2016 the JLP won 21 seats to take the KSAMC. The fact that the PNP had the popular vote then was of no value but this time, it is the decider.

Though the argument is now generally settled, what will not go away is the concern about the 29.6 per cent voter turnout. It is a moot point that the country does not know 29.6 per cent of what, as many think the list of just over two million is not real, containing significant numbers of dead electors.

Nevertheless, it may still be low. Jamaica had been in election mode since September 2023 when the PNP held its annual conference. It continued through the JLP’s annual conference in November 2023 and candidates’ presentations by both sides. The JLP held only two presentations in Old Harbour, St Catherine, and Chapelton in Clarendon, while the PNP had theirs in all parishes. It culminated on February 1, 2024 with the election announcement at Montego Bay Conference Centre.

Yet, after four months of intense campaign field activity; millions of dollars in the ‘air war’ involving traditional media, digital media and social media, the result is 29.6 per cent. The question to my mind is: Why? Not who won.

There are different schools of thought, with the main one being the electorate, especially the young, has become more transactional and want this for that
— bribes. Many senior politicians have gone on record asserting that they faced it on election day.

Galatians 6:7 came immediately to mind, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”

The politicians are guilty. When it suited them in the past they provided incentives, inducements, payments, and sundry forms of assistance to mobilise votes while telling themselves they were not vote-buying. There was massive evidence in the by-elections in St Mary South Eastern and Portland Eastern where the use of State resources was rampant and vulgar. All sorts of numbers were banded about, all sorts of numbers were denied.

One thing is clear; vote-buying is directly proportional to one’s ability to finance it. In this one, those who come to the bar of public opinion for sympathy must do so with clean hands.

It would suit both sides to begin fashioning a joint approach to stamp it out because if it grows any more it’s goodbye democracy. This approach must include improving the quality of representation.

He who pays the piper calls the tune. It should not be allowed to happen in Jamaica, land we love. Clear messages should lead to clear actions.

It was not a good start for the Minister of Local Government Desmond McKenzie to conclude that by their votes the people showed the JLP was still the preferred choice to lead local government. The 2024 vote was no such thing.

Colin Campbell is a former minister of information and former general secretary of the People’s National Party.