News Flash: PM Holness 15 percent More Popular Than Opposition Leader Phillips … Latest Poll October 2017

If the latest poll results are to be believed, then Dr. Peter David Phillips 67, Opposition Leader … PNP’s new found leader, has an uphill task to just catch up with JLP Leader and Prime Minister Andrew Michael Holness 45.

Commentary

Voting Patterns 

Jamaican voters are known to vote for party leaders and not necessarily local candidates. This pattern is significant in light of the national poll standings of Holness and Phillips.  If this pattern holds good, then Dr. Peter Phillips and by extension the PNP,  has a lot to be concerned about as it relates to holding on to a seat they already have … that of Southeast St. Mary. This means they are likely to vote for the party leader so the win for Dunn could be a landslide. The PNP has dismissed the latest poll results.

JLP candidate Dr. Norman Dunn has a 9 percent lead over Canadian citizen Dr. Shane Alexis of the PNP. If this lead is maintained then Alexis will run second in this electoral race to be held on Monday, October 30, 2017.

Caution

A day in politics is a very long time and fortunes can change. All indications point to a “Dunn deal” but it is not over until it is over.

Violence

There has been reports by the PNP that their supporters have been attacked. The police are not saying so. Is  this a strategy to discredit the JLP?  They seem desperate and this possibility cannot be ruled out.

The Political ombudsman Donna Parchment Brown seem hell-bent on jumping on to the PNP bandwagon when her office is supposed to be neutral. Is she a recent recruit or just exposing her petticoat?

What is your commentary/perspective? This is our commentary as we see things.

Hopeton O’Connor-Dennie is the Senior International Correspondent & photojournalist who has watched politics in Jamaica for many decades … reporting for Vision Newspaper.