Holness thanks Jamaica for landslide victory

JAMAICAN Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Friday expressed his thanks to the Jamaican people, 24 hours after his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) won a landslide victory in that country's general election.

Preliminary results showed the JLP defeated the opposition People's National Party (PNP) 49 to 14 in the election. The final ballot count in all 63 constituencies continued on Friday. Before the election, the JLP and PNP held 34 and 29 seats respectively in Jamaica's parliament.

In a tweet, Holness thanked Jamaicans for re-electing him and the JLP to office. He said, "We are honoured to continue to serve you and we look forward to #RecoveringStronger. God bless Jamaica."

He also said the JLP "is privileged to continue the sober governance needed to lead the land we love through this global health and economic crisis."

The JLP's victory on Thursday was the first time the party recorded back-to-back wins in a general election since 1967, when it retained power, having won the election in 1962.

In his victory speech on Thursday, Holness said he was humbled by the JLP's victory "for the people of Jamaica." He appealed for unity amongst all Jamaicans and ongoing commitment to combat the challenges posed by covid19 to Jamaica.

Some reports said several frontline PNP MPs lost their seats on Thursday, creating potential leadership issues for the opposition in Parliament. On Thursday, Opposition Leader and PNP leader Dr Peter Phillips said he would resign as leader and retire from representative politics.

PNP vice president Phillip Paulwell, who retained his East Kingston and Port Royal seat, said the party would meet on Friday to discuss the loss.

One report said both the JLP and PNP will each have at least 14 new MPs in the Parliament.

The Elections Commission of Jamacia said Thursday's election was the lowest ever voter turnout at 37 per cent. Reports suggest the JLP secured 57.1 per cent of the vote while the PNP got 42.8 per cent. Preliminary data from the ECJ said approximately 406, 085 electors voted for the JLP while 304,372 voted for the PNP.

Ahead of the close of the polls at 5 pm (Jamaica time; 6 pm TT time) on Thursday, the ECJ said only 16 per cent of the the country's 1.9 million eligible electors had voted up to 11 am Jamaica time ( Noon TT time).

There were media reports that heavy rains in different parts of Jamaica had slowed down the pace of voting. There were also reports that of people not adhering to covid19 protocols during voting. One report claimed JLP supporters ignored covid19 protocols in the West Central St Andrew constituency, which is represented by Holness.