HANOVER, Jamaica — Voting is progressing smoothly and in some cases, slowly in the Hanover Western constituency from as early as 7:00 am.

A number of polling stations were visited in the constituency.

Among them are the Lucea Christian Fellowship Church, the Salvation Army Author Wint Basic School, the Rusea’s High School, the Greenland Basic School and the town hall of the Hanover Municipal Corporation.

During the visit, prospective voters and those who have cast their votes were seen observing social distancing in most cases. They were also sanitised before entering the station and after voting.

OBSERVER ONLINE spoke with a man and a woman who cast their votes in Chambers Pen and Greenland, respectively. The two found voting to be a smooth process. On the other hand, some people have described the voting process as moving slowly.

In Hanover Western, there are a total of 32,255 electors who are eligible to cast their votes for the outgoing MP Ian Hayles of the People’s National Party (PNP) and Tamika Davis of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

Hayles is expected to receive a strong fight for the seat from his opponent, Davis, a lawyer who is slated to cast her vote shortly at the Greenland Basic School.

Hayles had won the seat in the 2016 General Election by 1,471 votes. He had obtained 6,829 votes in comparison to his then opponent from the JLP, Brian Wallace who had obtained 5,358 votes.

The PNP has won the seat 10 times in comparison to eight for the JLP since 1944.

Anthony Lewis