Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness secured the third term early on Thursday after a close race on the island shaken corruption, inequality and economic fears.
Preliminary results showed that Honess’ Jamaica Labor Party won at least 34 seats, while the National Party of Opposition Mark Golding secured at least 29 seats.
Golding admitted the elections in a short speech and said he was disappointed in the end when he recognized his opponent’s success.
“It’s not easy,” he said.
They also participated in Wednesday’s General elections, the progressive party of Jamaica, the United Independents Congress, and nine independent candidates looking for a place in different election districts.
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The official turnout was only 38.8%, only slightly higher than the participation in the elections by 2020 during the pandemic.
More than 2 million registered voters are eligible to hand over their ballots to the island of 2.8 million people.
There are 63 seats in the Jamaican House of the Representatives. The leader of the party who wins the majority becomes another prime minister.
The new leader then appoints 13 out of 21 senators to the upper house of Jamaica Parliament and the opposition will choose eight others.
Concern despite a decline in crime
This year, Jamaica has seen a 43% drop in killing, which meant the most important decline in decades. Improvement is largely attributed to the current increase in firearms seizures and a stronger, coordinated presence of security forces on the Caribbean island.
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The Jamaican Labor Party led the campaign for this tangible success and stood up as a government that withdrew the island back from the brink of widespread violence.
While the statistics of crime have improved, the shadow of the violent past of Jamaica still persists. The measures taken by the current government, including the implementation of emergency states in certain areas, brought support and criticism.
The private sector and many Jamaicas appreciated the effectiveness of such measures, and the number of killing in some regions decreased by up to 70%as the tourist parish of St. Jakub.
However, human rights organizations raised concerns about the use and possible abuse of these measures and emphasized alleged illegal detention because they require balanced approaches to protection of security and civil freedoms.
The Jamaican Labor Party also emphasized the fiscal responsibility, the low unemployment rate and the importance of continuity because it urged voters to risk the reversal of the progress.
The promise gets under fire
On Sunday, Holness has committed that his party, if re -elected, will double the current minimum wage of $ 100 per 40 hours of working week.
“We believe in the growth of the economy so that everyone gets a larger slice. As the economy expands, we must ensure that those who are at the bottom are fairly rewarded while creating incentives for more Jamaicas, especially our youth to join the workforce,” he said.
However, his promise was criticized by groups representing various business sectors.
“Tourism represents approximately one third of Jamaica’s gross product and is one of the largest employers in the country,” said Jamaican hotel and tourist association.
“Therefore, any wage changes will have extensive consequences for this sector, including the level of employment, competitiveness and availability of the Jamaican tourism product.”
“Tired of conditions”
The People’s National Party, or PNP, accepted a sharper and more critical tone before the elections. It claimed that while progress has been made, many Jamaicas still feel a hint of socio -economic challenges, including poverty, insufficient infrastructure and persistent pockets of crime and corruption.
“There are many frustrated people tired of the conditions in which they live,” Golding told reporters when he voted on Wednesday.
The party aims to direct public dissatisfaction into a mandate for change, promising reform, renewed social investment and a break from what it calls “satisfaction” in administration.
The key to the party’s policy proposals to solve the socio -economic suffering of the Jamaicas is to increase the income of the income to $ 21,800, an increase compared to the current $ 11,200. The opposition party says that Jamaican working class takes more money as a pillow against rising prices.
Despite the pulsating democratic tradition of Jamaica, the decline in voting has seen the participation of the vote in recent years.
29. August members of the Jamaican security forces and election workers submitted their ballots for this year’s elections. The election office announced 57%.
(Tagstotranslate) Jamaican Prime Minister (T) Andrew Holness
