KINGSTON, Jamaica- Opposition Leader Mark Golding has taken Prime Minister Andrew Holness to task for recent statement that the People’s National Party (PNP) must never be allowed to return to power in Jamaica.

According to published media reports, Holness made the statement as recently as last Friday, while addressing a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) meeting in the St Elizabeth North Eastern constituency.

Golding addressed the issue on Tuesday during his contribution to the 2025/26 Budget Debate at Gordon House.

“In the 80-year history of electoral politics in Jamaica, I have never heard of any prime minister before this one, whether of the PNP or JLP, declaring in an ominous tone that the Opposition must not return to power. That injunctive statement, repeated several times in recent weeks, carries a veiled threat to our democracy,” Golding remarked.

“The emergence of this threat was already presaged by previous unconstitutional conduct, like procuring pre-signed letters of resignation when appointing senators, putting the newly-appointed Chief Justice on probation, and the attempted legislative gerrymandering of the electoral boundaries of Portmore,” he said.

The Opposition leader added that “The narrative that this Government must stay in power not only smacks of desperation, but is an imminent danger to everything Jamaicans fought for over the centuries. Such statements foster that feeling of uneasiness, the most uncomfortable feeling, that the will of the people may be undermined. No politician or government should set that tone in our democracy”.

Golding said he was putting the Jamaican people on alert to “protect the most cherished right fought for by our people, the right to choose their government, and to vote out one which has proved that it is no longer deserving of support”.

The PNP’s Zuleika Jess is looking to wrest the seat from the Jamaica Labour Party ’s Delroy Sloley in the upcoming general election St Elizabeth North Eastern which was one of the safest PNP seats.

The party lost it once in a contested election when the JLP won the 1980 general election in a landslide.