Delroy Chuck

Elections are decided on the strength of the issues, the organisation and campaign strategies of the party and the image and competence of the leader.

No doubt, different emphasis and priority are placed on these themes and, in Jamaica, what matters to the intelligentsia may be of no concern to the rural poor or urban squatter. For the majority of Jamaica's voting population, it is bread and butter issues, party loyalty and adoration of the leader that count for electoral success.

The next General Election should not be even close. After 18 years of mismanagement and misdirection, and with the majority of the population acknowledging that the country is heading in the wrong direction, the PNP should be easily voted out of office. However, a psychological warfare is being unleashed and with the usual political spin-doctoring of the embedded PNP activists in the media, the church and professional organisations, the PNP is attempting to recover lost ground. Thus, we have party prophets, pollsters and activists predicting electoral success and encouraging people not to vote, as the election is already decided.

Party loyalty

In Jamaica, party loyalty counts and issues are of little moment. Regardless of how bad things are or even if the party moves in the opposite direction overnight, the partisan diehards stick to their party. For example, in the seventies, it was socialism now and forever, and capitalism was denounced as the evil of the imperialists. Nowadays, the PNP has reluctantly embraced capitalism, which has triumphed as the most effective machinery for wealth creation and to improve the quality of life. On the ground, it is simply a waste of time trying to convince a party diehard to change. At the end of the day, it is the undecided, the shifting voters and those who put Jamaica first who will make a difference.

What is clear to me, at least, is that the PNP is unlikely to give up power easily. It now has power and control and cannot take the country forward, grow the economy satisfactorily or provide peace and happiness to the populace, but still wants to cling on to power. Even if the PNP won the fifth term, what would they do differently that would take the country in the right direction? After a year in office, Portia Simpson Miller has not demonstrated that she is any different from the tired, worn-out and depleted PNP leadership of the previous 17 years. Under her, we are still headed in the wrong direction and, probably, at an even faster pace.

Loyal PNP supporters

Another term of the PNP will be good for its loyal supporters but disastrous for Jamaica. For the PNP supporters and the genetically connected, it will be more solid achievement and progress. But will that be true for the rest of Jamaica? Another term of the PNP will see the rich getting even richer, while the poor continue to depend on others for handouts and charity. Yet, at this time, the PNP and its rich contractors are catering to their supporters, providing the seasonal jobs under the so-called beautification and lift-up programmes, handing out fertilisers and chickens, fixing roads and gullies - in preparation for the general election. These supporters will come out in their hundreds of thousands to vote for the PNP, as they have always done.

What about the rest of Jamaica? The challenge for the JLP is to show that the country can do better, that we need not be poor and that Jamaica can once again be the jewel of the Caribbean. The JLP cannot depend solely on its supporters for electoral victory. It has to capture the hearts and minds of the undecided voters. It has to show that through its leadership, teamwork and policies, Jamaica can become more productive, more developed and be more peaceful and happy than ever before.