Jamaica Political System Development cont'd

As stated by the Nations Encyclopedia, since earning its independence from England in 1962, Jamaica has been governed alternately by the two major political parties, the left-leaning People's National Party (PNP) and the more conservative, pro-business Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). These two parties have often offered conflicting programs for managing the economy and have sometimes resorted to violence in opposing each other. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, both parties aligned themselves with rival gun gangs and fought their political battles in the streets as well as at the ballot box. The taint of political violence has touched nearly every election in Jamaican history and I have witnessed this up to this day in the year 2016. Isn't that so?

From 1972 to 1980 the PNP, under Prime Minister Michael Manley, adopted democratic socialism as its ruling platform and instituted state control over economic activities. The PNP had little success, as the widespread prosperity of the 1960s gave way to high inflation, unemployment, and great civil unrest and violence. During the 1970s Jamaica became a debtor nation; borrowing money from institutions and has remained so ever since as I am sure we see this being the case to this day. The more conservative JLP won control of the government in 1980 and maintained power until 1989. This pro-business party, led by Edward Seaga, withdrew state control from many industries and encouraged closer economic ties with the United States. Such controls were encouraged, even demanded, as a condition of loans made by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Under Seaga, the economy recovered some of its strength. Nevertheless, Seaga's implementation of austerity measures demanded by the IMF as part of Jamaica's debt maintenance eroded his popularity, and in 1989 the PNP returned to power, again under the leadership of Manley. After Manley's retirement in 1992, Percival J. Patterson (PJ) assumed the position of prime minister and led the party to an unprecedented third consecutive victory in the 1997 elections. (Nations Encyclopedia, Politics Government and Taxation)

I am sure many of us can recall the fourteenth General Parliamentary Elections which were held on October 16, 2002. The PNP won 34 seats with 51.6% of the votes while the JLP won 26 seats with 46.9% of the votes. The Most Hon. P.J. Patterson was returned as Prime Minister for a historic third time and PNP a historic fourth term. In 2007 out of four PNP presidential aspirants. Portia Simpson Miller was named party president. It was the first time that a woman was elected to the leadership of a major political party in Jamaica. On March 31, Simpson Miller, officially entered the record books as Jamaica’s first female prime minister.

Then, the fifteenth General Parliamentary Elections were held September 3, 2007. The JLP won 32 seats with 49.98% of the votes while PNP won 28 seats with 49.35% of the votes. The Hon. Bruce Golding of the Jamaica Labour Party became Jamaica’s eighth Prime Minister since Independence. (Electoral Commission of Jamaica, 2016) This 2007 general election in Jamaica went down as one of the closest in the nation's history. The close victory triggered immediate controversy, as Prime Minister and PNP President Portia Simpson Miller refused to concede, stating that "the election is too close to call".  The Bruce Golding-led Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) defied the prophets to achieve its first general election win in 18 years.

Andrew Michael Holness succeeded Bruce Golding as both leader of the Jamaica Labour Party and Prime Minister on 23 October 2011, making him the ninth person to hold this office. As the youngest person to become Prime Minister in Jamaica many persons were excited and wanted to know what he is capable of. On 5 December 2011, Holness called the next election for 29 December 2011. But on 29 December 2011, the JLP lost at the polls to the People's National Party, which gained a large majority of 42 to the JLP's 21 parliamentary seats. 

In the current year, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and leader of the Peoples National Party announced the date of the general election on 31 January 2016 as February 25, 2016. Simpson Miller set her party election machinery in motion before her premier political rival, Opposition Leader Andrew Holness, announced an election "roll call". 

And so here lies the question on everyone's mind and lips, who will triumph this time around?

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