Tufton: JLP ready, but calls to 'call it' just a distraction
Published:Friday | August 1, 2025 | 9:31 AM
Dr Christopher Tufton, the chairman of the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) campaign committee, is cautioning against calls for Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness to announce the general election date, asserting that there is still legitimacy in the current term.
“I think we have to be careful to not assume that the political cycle which allows a five-year term – and we allow that five-year term – that there isn’t legitimacy in taking that five-year term. Five years in office,” Tufton said during a JLP press conference to present the party’s achievements on Wednesday.
He said Jamaica has, on average, held elections at the four-year-plus mark, noting that in Jamaica’s democracy the prime minister has the right to call within that period.
Tufton said once Holness remains within that period, there should be no question about the legitimacy of the Government or his right to exercise that authority.
He said he considers it a distraction those who continue to beseech Holness to announce a date for the election.
The prime minister last week indicated that he will soon announce a date.
“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, and a leader has the right to call it when he feels it’s the right time, and 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’re still within the time that is allowed. And, as said earlier, Prime Minister Holness, party leader Holness, will call it within the period when he sees fit. We’re just here to report that the party is ready, and we know that we’ve done enough to ask the people humbly for another term,” said Tufton.
Holness, at a JLP Gospel Concert in Portland Western on Sunday, said it was very clear that the election would be soon.
“I gather that the other people say them tired. When you hear them say, ‘Call it Andrew, call it’, it’s not because they think they can win, them just tired and them just want to get it over and done with because them can’t go no further,” Holness said.
Declaring himself a 'long-distance stulla', Holness said he intends to make the calling of the election "sure".
The Opposition People’s National Party said Holness has not given a date for the upcoming general election because he knows the JLP will face defeat at the polls.
Addressing PNP supporters in Musgrave Square in Brown’s Town, St Ann North Western, last Thursday, Opposition Leader Mark Golding chided Holness for delaying the announcement of the date, insisting that the JLP leader is hiding from the polls.
“Election must call because, if him don’t call it, the Constitution will call it, and we’re going to vote them out because the people deserve better. Time come for a better life,” he said.
At the same time, PNP General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell said Holness has hesitated to call the general election because he is staring defeat in the face.