The 63 men and women expected to contest the next general election for the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) were summoned to its Belmont Road headquarters on Tuesday, but there was no official word out of the meeting on when party Leader Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness will call Jamaicans to the polls.

Up to press time on Tuesday there was no word from the party on the agenda of the meeting.

Labour party sources told the Jamaica Observer that it was a regular meeting of the parliamentary caucus before the weekly sitting of the House of Representatives where Edmund Bartlett was scheduled to make his contribution to the 2025/26 Sectoral Debate.

But the presence of a number of people who are expected to contest the next general election, and who are not sitting Members of Parliament, placed doubt on those claims.

Among those seen entering Belmont Road was political newcomer Ambassador Audrey Marks, who has been selected by the party to contest the Manchester North Eastern seat which veteran politician Audley Shaw has held since 1993.

Shaw, now 72 years old, is stepping aside after well over three decades in public service.

In recent weeks the JLP has been stepping up political activity across the country with divisional meetings and worker appreciation awards functions, most of which have been addressed by Holness.

Similarly, the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has been staging meetings islandwide with PNP President Mark Golding speaking to supporters.

The next general election is constitutionally due by September. At the last poll in 2020 the JLP won 49 of the island’s 63 seats to the PNP’s 14.