UIC party calls for halt to election preparation, more focus on preventing coronavirus surge

 

Registered political party, United Independents' Congress (UIC) is calling for Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Opposition Leader Dr. Peter Phillips to halt election preparations and instead focus on preventing a major second wave of the coronavirus.

 

The UIC says the country faces the danger of a spiralling infection rate and economic fallout if an election is called at this time.

 

Winston Wright, Vice President of the UIC, says the funds that will be spent on an election could be used to help Jamaica recover from the coronavirus and create more jobs. 

 

"We believe that the pandemic will be with us for a lengthy period of time. We have already made significant disbursements as a country to assist persons, especially in the tourism sector that has been displaced, and we expect that to continue for even longer," he said. 

 

He argued that a spiral of cases in other countries appears to be the result of "the unwise reopening of these countries to allow visitors from areas drastically affected by the coronavirus" and reasoned that, at a time like this, if the government were to spend well-needed resources on an election which is not yet constitutionally due, it would be "tantamount to a waste."