People’s National Party (PNP) President Mark Golding last night conceded defeat and offered congratulations to the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in a brief speech at the party’s Old Hope Road headquarters in St Andrew.

By the time Golding, who had campaigned with the party’s ‘Time Come’ mantra took the stage at minutes to 11:00 pm, it was a sombre mood among the dwindling number of Comrades who had remained.

“I acknowledge and concede the results and congratulate the Jamaica Labour Party. Jamaica’s democracy is important and we must cherish it, though it sometimes brings bitter disappointment,” Golding said, adding that “those disappointments are laced with a tinge of ‘not all is fair and just’”.

He said it was “very important that we put democracy ahead of all of this” and added that he accepted the results of the elections.

“Obviously I am disappointed with the outcome, but I think it is only correct to expressly acknowledge the success that our opponents have managed to gain today,” Golding said.

Despite the loss, Golding said the election was a “wonderful demonstration of Jamaica’s political process that we could go through such a closely-fought election without any violence to speak of”.

He also said he was proud of the platform on which the party campaigned.

“It was a truly progressive platform, a radical platform that offered solutions to the land tenure issues that have plagued this country, a radical platform that would have enhanced the standard of living of those families that are struggling to survive now by giving them a significantly lower tax burden on their income,” he said.

The PNP president said his party’s platform was progressive in a “social justice sense, as well as around issues such as beach reform, contract work and other things that really need to be addressed because there are injustices in our society that really cannot be tolerated…”

Golding thanked Jamaicans “for having received us so well, having given us hundreds of thousands of votes, and having given us 29 seats. We don’t take that for granted”.

He also highlighted that Wednesday’s voting process was “painfully slow” and that it was an issue that more will have to be said about.

He was joined onstage by the party’s General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell, and the newly minted Member of Parliament-elect for Kingston Central, former Superintendent of Police Steve McGregor who narrowly defeated the JLP’s Donovan Williams.

Dejected People’s National Party (PNP) supporters listen as party President Mark Golding concedes defeat in the general election at PNP headquarters in St Andrew on Wednesday night.(Photos: Naphtali Junior)