3 lessons from by-elections for JLP, says Chairman Robert Montague

Chairman of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Robert Montague, says there are three lessons for the party to take from the results of last Friday’s by-elections in which it won two and lost two.

“It’s not the results we wanted, but it is what we got.

“There are basically three lessons to be taken from these elections,” Montague said as he addressed the party’s annual conference at the National Arena on Sunday.

“We must pay more attention to the poor and (the) vulnerable; the people’s agenda, the cost of living, roads, light, housing and water,” he said.

“We must help persons to start their small businesses or expand, and we must grow our footprint in the digital economy.

“And we must take care of our party workers,” Montague further said in his short outline.

“This party intends to do just that. We are paying more attention to our party workers, creating more opportunities for them. The party leader started with the scholarship in education programme where children of party workers can get a scholarship or a grant. But we intend to go further,” the JLP chairman added.

The JLP’s candidates won the two parliamentary by-elections in St Andrew North West, where Duane Smith has replaced former Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke, and in Trelawny Southern, where former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert, reclaimed the seat she resigned from in September 2023 amid a damning report from the Integrity Commission.

Of note is that the Opposition People’s Party (PNP) did not contest the by-elections for the House seats. However, the PNP contested and won the parochial elections in the Morant Bay Division of the St Thomas Municipal Corporation, and the Aenon Town Division in Clarendon Northern.

The JLP's hierarchy, including Prime Minister Andrew Holness, had expressed confidence that the party would have won all four by-elections.