‘Every lane, every street’

With just three weeks until Jamaicans head to the polls for the general election, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) says it will be intensifying campaign efforts to ensure a third term.

“We will be out – every lane, every community, every street, every gullyside, every hillside – finding that last voter,” declared Robert ‘Bobby’ Montague, chairman of the JLP, moments after Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness announced the September 3 election on Sunday to a massive crowd in Half-Way Tree, St Andrew.

He said the JLP will be campaigning on its record of achievements, while sharing future plans with potential voters and then asking them “with humility” to vote for the JLP.

“We are not entitled to a third term; a third term is not guaranteed. We have respect for the people of Jamaica and, therefore, we will go to them where they are, make our case, and ask and beg and appeal for their support,” Montague said.

The St Mary Western incumbent member of parliament, who has faced criticisms from constituents over his stewardship, also told The Gleaner that the mood in the rural seat is “very strong” as he prepares to face off with the People’s National Party’s Orville Woodbine.

Meanwhile, Dr Horace Chang, the JLP’s general secretary, said the momentum is with the party and will translate to it winning at least 35 seats comfortably.

He highlighted the crowd that turned up for the party’s mass rally as evidence of that.

“This is one of the largest turnouts we’ve had in Half-Way Tree for many years. But more than the size was the attitude of the crowd; they were very attentive, they were very disciplined, and it’s like they were waiting to hear the announcement; and then there was this kind of explosion of emotion that we are now ready to go to the polls,” he told The Gleaner.

Further, he said the party is very organised under the leadership of Holness, who has been strident in ensuring that party workers feel respected.

“The party machinery is there, but you have to raise the level of activity. It’s like you’re going into a new business, you have staff, but you have to expand the business, you have to train them up and increase their level of skillset,” he said.

Citing the JLP’s achievements in economic recovery and infrastructure development, as well as a reduction in murders, record-low unemployment, and reduction in poverty prevalence, Chang said he believed the election was called at the right time.

The country has achieved a 42 per cent cut in murders, compared with last year; historic unemployment low of 3.3 per cent; and a poverty prevalence level of 8.2 per cent.

Chang noted that the party has also been educating its workers and candidates on how to be flexible with their campaign strategies.

“[We’ve been] going nine years. You have to train the young ones and reorient the older ones to the new politics of the day. It’s not just going to a rum bar and drinking a few rums or going to a funeral. The population expects much more from them,” he said.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com