TWO Cabinet ministers, Robert Montague and Clive Mullings, were among the big casualties in yesterday’s general election.

Montague, who was the minister of agriculture, lost his St Mary Western seat to the People’s National Party’s Jolyan Silvera, while Mullings, who held the mining and energy portfolio, lost the St James West Central constituency to Sharon Ffolkes Abrahams.

A third minister, Dwight Nelson, who was appointed national security minister through the senate, was b·eaten by the PNP’s Julian Robinson in St Andrew South Eastern. For both it was their first foray into representational politics.

Junior ministers Othneil Lawrence (St Ann North Western), Andrew Gallimore (St Andrew West Rural), Michael Stern (Clarendon North Western), and Laurie Broderick (Clarendon Northern) also lost their seats in the legislature in what was a 41-22 national swing towards the PNP in Jamaica’s 16th general election since Universal Adult Suffrage in 1944.