The Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has confirmed that it will not be contesting the September 30 by-election in North East St Ann, citing the party’s preparation for general elections, which are due next year.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced the by-election date at a post-Cabinet press briefing on Wednesday morning, a day after it was announced that Marsha Smith had resigned with immediate effect as Member of Parliament (MP) for the St Ann North East seat.
Former Government Senator Matthew Samuda is expected to be nominated on Wednesday, September 11 as the candidate for the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
In a statement responding to the developments, Opposition Leader Mark Golding said the PNP “is preparing for general elections to enable the people to vote in a new Government, and will not be contesting by-elections at this late stage in the run-up to the general elections.”
Golding went on to question the timing of the announcement of a by-election from Holness, arguing that, “it is striking and unprecedented that this by-election was announced less than 24 hours after the resignation of the Member of Parliament.”
The PNP president elaborated that, “It is also of some importance to note that the first notification to the Jamaican people about the resignation of a Cabinet Minister and Senator, Matthew Samuda, is within the context of announcing a by-election.”
According to Golding, “the prime minister has clearly orchestrated the holding of this by-election, which is a slap in the face of the electors of Southern Trelawny, who have had no parliamentary representative for a full year, a quarter of the life of this (present) House of Representatives.”
That seat has been without a parliamentary representative since the resignation of Marissa Dalrymple-Philibert, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, since the publication of an Integrity Commission (IC) investigative report relative to her statutory declarations.
Golding also went on to describe the St Ann North Eastern by-election as “a slap in the face of the people of Morant Bay, whose right to elect a councillor within 90 days of a vacancy was abridged by the Holness Administration using an amendment to the Representation of the People Act, a by-election which is legally due now.”
Citing that the Government is in the fifth and final year of its current term of office, Golding declared that, “It (the JLP Government) is becoming increasingly unpopular, and recent events show that it is on the ropes.”
To that end, Golding said the PNP “remains steadfast in our mission to protect and strengthen Jamaica’s democracy”.
He added that the PNP “will not enter any process that seeks to undermine the very principles we hold dearly,” but will instead “focus on ensuring that every Jamaican has a voice, and that every constituency is treated with fairness and (the) respect it deserves.”
Meanwhile, Golding said the PNP will contest the Local Government by-elections which are due as required by law, as Local Government elections are not due for another three-and-a half years.
In giving a reason for that decision, Golding stated that in 2016, Parliament legislated that there should be no by-elections for municipal corporations within a 12-month period leading up to Local Government elections.
Local Government Elections were held in February of 2024, but due to the deaths of two parochial representatives, for the Morant Bay Division in St Thomas and the Aenon Town Division in Clarendon, the two divisions are now without sitting councillors.
Holness said on Wednesday that the Government is now in a position to call the other by-elections at both the constituency and municipal levels in the coming months.
