Raymond Pryce, a former deputy general secretary of the PNP, stated that people have had enough of the JLP and are tired of that party, but they are waiting to see what alternative the PNP is giving.
“What I have discovered, it is like we are over here and Holness over there, the people are moving away from him, but they are clutched in the middle, wondering what we deh pon as PNP,” Pryce told party supporters.
He shared the observation while speaking at a conference in the PNP’s Granville Division – which is led by Councillor Michael Troupe – in St James West Central late Sunday night.
Pressing home his findings, Pryce said: “A lot of times when I speak to people, they are saying, ‘we have seen what these people (Holness-JLP administration) are offering for the last seven years, and we agree with you, we don’t want any more of that, but we are not yet hearing what unuh (PNP) coming with’.”
He observed that the persistently inappropriate behaviour in public settings by some members of the PNP is one of the reasons why the electorate is at a crossroads, as they try to decide whether to fully support the PNP, stay with the JLP, or stay away from polling stations.
“What is important to the voters is not so much what we say as party workers, but it is our actions, especially our actions toward each other, “ he stated.
Continuing, Pryce said: “I have gone into many divisions and constituencies to support candidates and I hear the voters saying ‘the way they galang with them one another I could never vote for them’.”
In April, Holness begged Jamaicans not to turn their backs on his Government, urging them to remain focused and not get distracted by the political tactics of those seeking to unseat his administration.
And pointing to results of the most recent PNP-commissioned Don Anderson poll, Holness gave the impression that the results were more a reflection of the PNP’s propaganda, and not the performance of his JLP administration, which has a strong majority in the nation’s Parliament.
“The public looking on will not get to see what is happening. What they will hear are those merchants of negativity who will seek to always decry and spread falsehoods about what the Government is doing,” Holness said then in a jab at the Mark Golding-led PNP.
According to the poll, which was conducted between February 17 and 26 by the Don Anderson-led Market Research Services Limited, both the Holness-led Government and the Golding-led PNP opposition were said to be underperforming in their respective duties.
Also embedded in the result of that poll is a close margin between the PNP and the JLP in their quest to sway the electorate ahead of the next general election.
The poll stated that when asked which of the two political parties they would support if an election was called now, 28.1 per cent of the respondents picked the PNP, compared with 27.9 per cent who sided with the JLP. The poll survey sample comprised 1,002 registered voters drawn from all 14 parishes. It had a plus or minus three per cent margin of error.
Of the respondents polled, 44 per cent said they would cast a ballot if elections were called now, while 56 per cent said they would not vote or were unsure if they would.
“They [the electorate] should not drop their hands, they should not turn from the Government, but they should keep heart, remain focused, [because] your Government is doing a phenomenal job in taking on, sometimes ambitiously, some of these projects,” said Holness, during his recent tour of the under-construction Western Children and Adolescents Hospital in Montego Bay.
