KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), on Saturday issued a statement on Saturday affirming that the ruling Jamaica Labour Party [JLP] won the recent local government election after securing control of seven local authorities.
The ECJ says the main opposition People’s National Party [PNP] won control of six local authorities, inclusive of the Portmore Municipal Corporation in the central parish of St. Catherine.
“With all the ballots counted, the result is that the JLP won the election for control of the local authorities with seven of the local authorities and the PNP won six of the local authorities inclusive of the Portmore Municapality,” the ECJ’s statement read.
The ECJ also confirmed that a meeting will be held on Thursday to select a new Mayor for the Kingston & St Andrew Municipal Corporation [KSMC] after the the final count showed that the two parties ended in a tie, with each having twenty councillors.
However, it is expected that it will be the PNP, having received a majority of the votes cast in the KSAMC, that will determine who will be the Chairman of the powerful Municipal Corporation and Mayor of Kingston.
The Jamaica Labour Party will select the Deputy Mayor as set out in the Eighth Schedule of the Representation of the People Act.
The meeting of the Kingston & St. Andrew Municipal Corporation will be held on March 7, during which the Principal Returning Officer, by law, will officiate in the selection process of the PNP’s nominee for the position of Mayor and for the JLP nominee as Deputy Mayor.
Both the JLP and the PNP had been claiming to have won the election, using contrasting arguments to stake their claim. The JLP has been citing its winning of a majority of seats in seven municipalities to the PNP’s six as the basis of its victory claim.
The PNP, on the other hand, has been insisting that, having won the popular vote in Kingston & St. Andrew, which gives it the right to have its candidate for Chairman of the KSAMC appointed to the position, confirms that it had indeed won that election as well.
The PNP further pressed its case for being declared the victor in the election in light of the fact that it won the popular vote, nationally, and also won two more divisions that the JLP across all the municipalities.
The ECJ, established on December 1, 2006, replaced the Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC) that had been established in 1979.
The ECJ is a permanent independent and autonomous authority that reports directly to Parliament.
