Tufton dismisses pressure for PM Holness to announce election date

 

Amid queries about the delay in naming the date for the next general election, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) campaign committee chairman Dr. Christopher Tufton says the questions are irrelevant.

 

The country last went to the polls on September 3, 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and several months before the election was constitutionally due. 

 

Now, with the political temperature rising, the opposition People's National Party has been pressuring Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness to name the date, often chanting on the campaign trail, "Call it, Andrew, call it." 

 

The JLP on Wednesday launched a booklet outlining 256 accomplishments, which it says also signals the official start of its campaign activities.

 

As for why the election has not yet been called, Dr. Tufton maintains that the government is still operating within the legally defined election cycle.

 

"The truth is that we have had elections on average for four-plus years when you look at the general cycle. And in our democracy, the leader of a party and Prime Minister has the right to call within that period. Once he remains within that period, there should be no question about the legitimacy of the government or indeed his right so to exercise that legitimate authority. And I consider it a non-issue. I consider it a destruction. Those who make noise about it, 'Call it, Andrew, call it.' I mean, you can do it as rhetoric. You can do it as playful banter, but the truth is, everybody knows that this is how the democracy works," he declared.

 

Dr. Tufton reiterated that a leader has the advantage of calling an election when he believes the timing is right.

 

"That's the advantage that the ruling party has. So we do not think that it is a relevant issue to be totally frank, and we are still within the time that is allowed. And as I said earlier, Prime Minister Holness, party leader Holness, will call it within the period when he sees fit

and we are just here to report that the party is ready. And we know that we have done enough to ask the people humbly for another term."

 

 

Meanwhile, Jamaica Labour Party General Secretary Dr. Horace Chang said the governing party is committed to a peaceful election campaign "not characterised by threats of war, of blood, or fire". 

 

Dr. Chang said he participated in a meeting on Wednesday with the political ombudsman unit of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica, where it was agreed that the JLP and its political opponents would speak out against the destruction of campaign posters and other paraphernalia. 

 

Dr. Chang and Dr. Tufton were speaking at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. 

 

The Office of the Political Ombudsman has received numerous reports of vandalism of political paraphernalia across the country. 

 

Llofraun Thompson, head of the unit coordinating the activities of the Office of Political Ombudsman, has said the actions by some individuals to damage campaign property creates an atmosphere of intimidation and retaliation.