KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has issued a firm rebuttal to allegations made by the People’s National Party (PNP) following the recent September 3 general election, accusing the opposition of casting baseless aspersions on the electoral process, while refusing to confront their own shortcomings at the polls.

Speaking at a post-election press conference at the JLP’s Belmont Road headquarters on Thursday, party representatives, including Dr Christopher Tufton, Kamina Johnson Smith, and communications taskforce member Abka Fitz-Henley, addressed recent comments from the PNP, which has called for an independent review of the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) and raised concerns about voter suppression and alleged vote-buying.

“You can’t go out there and say ‘wolf, wolf’ and have no evidence,” said Dr Tufton.

“Now I am not going to swear for thousands and thousands of people who have been involved in the electoral process. What I will say is from a policy perspective, as a political organisation, the Jamaica Labour Party as a policy does not support vote buying. We have not given any instructions for vote buying to take place.”

Tufton stressed that the JLP has campaigned on its policies, achievements, and leadership.

“A responsible political organisation cannot just go out there and start to spew allegations particularly in the context that they have lost as a means of trying to legitimise their loss, because that seems to be what they are doing. We are not going to subscribe to that. It is not our policy so to do and if the PNP thinks that is not the case, they should provide the evidence otherwise they should shut up and I say so as diplomatically as possible, and focus on being an opposition,” he argued.

Meanwhile, Johnson Smith criticised the PNP for insinuating that the election outcome was compromised, despite having accepted defeat on September 3, and pointed out that no magistrate’s recount was requested.

She accused the party of now engaging in “political mischief”, particularly with renewed interest in the constituency of St Andrew West Central, held by Prime Minister-elect Dr Andrew Holness.

“The party finds the position taken by the PNP in respect of St Andrew West Central to be baseless, to be frivolous to be yet another indicator of desperation and an unwillingness to face the results and enter into introspection,” said Johnson Smith.

She also claimed that the PNP president, Mark Golding had been touring constituencies other than his own on election day, which is inconsistent with provision of the Representation of the People’s Act. She says the party will further address the matter at a later date.

The final count of votes which concluded on Sunday, showed the JLP winning 35 seats to the PNP 28.

—Brittania Witter