Landslide! Jamaica Labour Party sweeps Jamaica’s general elections
Jamaica’s general election has been won by the Jamaica Labour Party in a landslide victory.
The victory marks the first time the JLP has won a second consecutive term in an election that both major parties have contested.
Earlier
today, Holness confirmed reports that his party was aiming to take at least 40
of the 63 seats in Parliament.
Heading into the election, both parties had been confident of victory in today’s polls which were characterised by low voter turnout.
Voting
began at 7:00 am and ended at 5: 00 pm, with the Electoral Office of Jamaica
reporting that turnout was 31 per cent as at 2:00 pm.
A marked swing towards the ruling JLP saw several seats many pundits thought would go to the PNP – including Kingston Central, Trelawny Northern, Clarendon Northern, St Ann North Western, Western Westmoreland and Central Manchester – turn to the ruling party.
Vice-President
of the PNP, Phillip Paulwell, in an interview with media this evening, said the
result was “unexpected”.
Paulwell added that “People don’t support a party that they perceive to be disunited and that’s why so much effort was put to resolve it.”
He continued that the party did a “credible job” at trying to unite the party but said “there were certain aspects of our conduct that people did not like”.
Preliminary results suggest the JLP has won 49 seats to the PNP’s 14.
The
JLP previously held 34 seats to the People’s National Party’s 29.
