RULING PARTIES RETAIN POWER IN JAMAICA AND GUYANA ELECTIONS

The leaders of Jamaica and Guyana have led their respective parties to re-election in polls held this week. Results came in early Thursday morning for the elections in Jamaica on Wednesday and Guyana on Monday.

In Jamaica, Prime Minister Andrew Holness won a third straight term for the Jamaica Labour Party(JLP), winning 34 seats to 29 for the main opposition People's National Party(PNP). There are 63 seats in the Jamaica Parliament.

The JLP’s five-seat victory margin over PNP led by Mark Golding was a considerable reduction from the 49 seats it secured in the 2020 election. 

First-time PNP leader Mark Golding (not related to former JLP leader Bruce Golding) doubled his party’s performance from the 14 seats it won in 2020.

The preliminary results indicate that voter turnout was 40 per cent, a slight improvement on the 30 per cent of 2020.

In Guyana where final tallies were being made following a recount in at least one constituency, President Irfaan Ali's People's Progressive Party (PPP) had won eight of the 10 districts. In what is seen as a major upset in recent Guyana politics, the new We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party was on its way to displacing the main opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)as the country's second most popular party. There are 65 seats in the Guyana Parliament. 

Coming out of Monday's election, the ruling PPP of President Ali won 36 seats, with the upstart WIN party led by businessman Azruddin Mohamed picking up 16. The other 13 seats are to be determined and assigned under Guyana’s proportional representation system. 

Voter turnout was 61 per cent.