THE leadership of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) will today try to lift the spirits of some of its core supporters who were left stunned by defeats in two municipal by-elections last Friday.

While there has been no official announcement from the party, today’s public session of the JLP’s 81st annual conference — the last before the next general election — is expected to be the unofficial launch of its push for a third term.

A bumper crowd is expected at the National Arena in St Andrew as the party aims to send a message that Labourities at its base are energised and ready for the road.

But the results of Friday’s by-elections, in which the governing party failed to win any of the two municipal divisions contested by the People’s National Party (PNP), plus recent national polls which show the JLP headed for defeat whenever Jamaicans go back to the polls, could put a damper on the conference.

However, the party’s General Secretary Dr Horace Chang was quick to downplay the significance of the two defeats while talking up the performance of the JLP’s candidates in the two parliamentary by-elections.

Speaking with the Jamaica Observer hours after the preliminary results were announced on Friday, Chang said the performances of Duane Smith in St Andrew North Western and Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert in Trelawny Southern were commendable.

“I said she [Dalrymple-Philibert] would get 3,000 to 4,000 votes and she got 4,000 [4,146] and Duane also won easily,” said Chang as he admitted that the party needs to look at what happened in the defeats in Aenon Town Division in Clarendon and Morant Bay Division in St Thomas.

“The Aenon Town one was a little off and we will look at what happened there, but we should have won. I think some errors were made. In Morant Bay we did pretty well, given what we came out with, but I am not surprised [by the result]. It was a tough call but we did better than was expected. Let’s say we didn’t do badly, and what we did in the by-election in south Trelawny, people came out and showed their commitment, we might just have to look at what slipped through the cracks,” added Chang.

But buoyed by his party’s victory in Morant Bay — which it also won in the local government elections last February — and Aenon Town, which it had lost in February, PNP President Mark Golding declared that the results reflected the opposition party’s growing national support and the people’s confidence that it will deliver meaningful change.

Golding was supported by the party’s General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell, who said: “The victories in Aenon Town and Morant Bay are heralding what’s to come in 2025.”

According to Campbell, “The results are consistent with recent national polls that show that the PNP is developing a commanding lead in trust and support. The JLP is now a lame-duck Administration that has lost the confidence of the majority. An early general election to give a fresh mandate to a new administration would be in the best interests of democracy and governance.”

Today, it will be up to the leadership of the JLP, led by Party Leader Prime Minister Andrew Holness, to convince Labourities and the rest of Jamaica that the two defeats were minor blips.

The party leader is scheduled to deliver the main address at the conference, and JLP public relations committee member Dr Dana Morris Dixon last Thursday told a media briefing at the party’s Belmont Road, St Andrew headquarters that Holness “will give a comprehensive update to the nation on how his Administration will intensify the pace at which we are delivering on the mission to Jamaica achieving economic independence and deliver prosperity for all”.

Dixon added that the conference will also feature addresses from a number of speakers who will update the country on the progress made by the Government in various sectors including health, transport, technology, foreign affairs, agriculture, water, along with labour and social security.

She said Jamaicans will hear more of how the Holness Administration is actively putting policies in place to further address their concerns.

Also addressing last Thursday’s media briefing, JLP Deputy Leader Desmond McKenzie declared that this will be a serious conference without the gimmickry which, he said, marked other recent political conferences.

“We are not going to the National Arena on Sunday… with any comedy, we are coming with a strong, clear message that will speak to the direction of the country. We are not into the gimmicks thing, this is a party that is serious about our messaging and we will stick on message,” said McKenzie, the conference chairman.

“Our conference will reinforce the fact that by virtue of the actions we have taken, and will take to improve the lives of the mass of Jamaicans, the Jamaica Labour Party is, without doubt, the stronger political party.

“We have better policies, a stronger team, and we have, perhaps, the greatest political leader of modern time, Dr Andrew Holness,” added McKenzie as he outlined the plans for the public session of the conference, which will have as its theme, ‘Active and Strong’.

The public session is slated to get under way at 10:00 am with no firearms, drugs, knives, ice picks, machetes, long umbrellas, glass bottles or any other item that can be used to cause serious harm or injury, as well as noise makers (popularly referred to as vuvuzelas) allowed inside the venue.

Traffic changes will also be in effect for the area around the National Stadium complex while the police have warned that all provisions of the Road Traffic Act will be strictly enforced.