(Jamaica Observer) Andrew Holness, at nightfall today, could find himself the first leader born post-Independence and the youngest elected prime minister at 39 years old, if the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) finds favour with the Jamaican electorate.
Conversely, Portia Simpson Miller could get her first electoral mandate from the people if her Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has its way with the voters.
Jamaicans go to the polls today in what pollsters are predicting to be a close contest and which only the brave are willing to call.
Based on the current voters’ list, just over 1.6 million Jamaicans are registered to vote in today’s general election, the 16th since Jamaicans gained Universal Adult Suffrage 67 years ago.
The figure is approximately 310,000 more than the number of people who were registered to vote in the September 2007 general election which was won by the Bruce Golding-led Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
Golding threw in the towel after four years, making way for his education minister Holness who, if successful, will be the youngest prime minister to lead his party to electoral victory. If he loses, however, Holness will better only Donald Sangster as the country’s shortest-serving prime minister.
Sangster died of illness, after being in the post for 48 days.
For Holness and the JLP to be victorious they must overcome the Portia Simpson Miller-led People’s National Party (PNP) which was defeated by four seats in the last general election.
In addition to the increase in the number of eligible voters, the number of constituencies has been increased from 60 to 63 for which 150 candidates will be vying. They include the 126 individuals who are running on either the PNP or the JLP ticket.
The Marcus Garvey People’s Political Party has fielded 10 candidates, while the National Democratic Movement will have seven candidates contesting the election. Ras Astor Black will be the only representative of his Jamaica Alliance Movement. Six independents have also thrown their hats in the ring.
Not unusually, the two major political parties are expressing confidence that they will win today’s general election, citing favourable indicators. Both pointed to party-commissioned polls as proof they would be victorious, after the three different public opinion pollsters found contradicting results as to which party would win.
PNP campaign director Dr Peter Phillips yesterday declared that his party would be taking home a minimum of 37 seats, compared with the prediction by Generation 2000 (G2K), the young professional arm of the JLP that it would take 40 seats based on “a mix of constituency polls and comprehensive organisational analyses”.
Late evening, Phillips told the Observer the PNP was fine-tuning today’s arrangements. “The workers are being given final instructions, arrangements for kits, lunch for workers, transportation, all of those arrangements are those activities that the various constituency organisations will be finalising at this hour,” he said.
For the JLP, campaign manager Karl Samuda told journalists that all was in place for the party’s team of workers to hit the roads early this morning. “All that we have been doing is ensuring that the machinery that will be put in place as of five o’clock tomorrow morning is fine-tuned, well-oiled to ensure the electors are facilitated in their attempts to come out and vote for the Jamaica Labour Party,” he said.
In a national broadcast on Tuesday, Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) Professor Errol Miller indicated that all was in place for the holding of a free and fair election. “Each general election in our recent past has been an improvement over the previous one. We expect and have planned for this trend to continue on December 29. It is only by conducting elections that conform to the highest standard of democracy that those elected to Parliament are assured the right to govern with legitimacy and credibility,” he said.
The ECJ chairman also issued a stern warning to those who may be tempted to engage in what he described as illegal or corrupt practices.
Polling stations across the country will be opened at 7:00 am and are slated to close at 5:00 pm, following which box-by-box counting begins at counting centres across the island. The winning party from the preliminary count should be known by about 11:00 pm.
