KINGSTON, Jamaica, August 13, 2020 — Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, has announced that the General Election will be held on Thursday, September 3 this year. Mr. Holness has also revealed that Nomination Day will be on Tuesday, August 18.
Speaking in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, August 11, the Prime Minister pointed out that in accordance with the Jamaican Constitution, Parliament is to be dissolved on Thursday, August 13, to allow for the election process.
“Acting on my advice, the Governor General is expected to take the necessary steps required by Section 64 (1) of the Constitution to dissolve the Parliament by Proclamation,” he said.
Mr. Holness noted that this is the first time the General Election is being announced in Parliament, arguing that it being done in this manner “is good for our democracy.”
The Prime Minister said that the Government is not being unusual in practice in calling the election at this time, noting that “in fact, most Governments have called the elections before the due date.”
The General Election in Jamaica was not constitutionally due until February 2021.
In the meantime, all States of Public Emergency (SOEs), which were in place in sections of the island, will end on Monday, August 17.
This follows Parliament’s approval of five Resolutions moved by Mr. Holness that seek to end the SOEs earlier than the previously set September 3 end date.
Meanwhile, according to an article on August 12 in the Jamaica Observer, Dr. Peter Phillips, leader of the main opposition People’s National Party (PNP), said, Jamaica deserves “a better government and we of the People’s National Party are prepared to rescue Jamaica.”
“We are prepared to rescue Jamaica from the clutches of murder and violence and from a government that does not know how to control crime. We are prepared to rescue Jamaica from a government that permits the thieving of your money …we are prepared to rescue Jamaica for it to have an economy that takes care of all businesses and micro businesses and set up life for the people of the country.”
Holness told Parliament on Tuesday night that he had asked the Governor General, Sir Patrick Allen, to dissolve Parliament on August 13, as he found it “necessary to seek another mandate from the people of Jamaica.”
He told legislators that his four-and-a-half year administration had done much for the island, including its ongoing navigation through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has had a significant impact on the local economy.
“So I have no doubt in my mind that Jamaica will recover stronger,” Holness said. “I have no doubt in my mind that we will build back stronger. I have no doubt in my mind that under this administration in partnership with the people of Jamaica we will achieve the prosperity in the new Jamaica that we all want to see.”
But Phillips, who is leading the PNP into a general election for the first time since taking over the from former prime minister Portia Simpson Miller in 2017, said there were a number of issues confronting Jamaicans, including high schools fees, poverty and social displacement.
“We are prepared to rescue Jamaica with the minimum wage, we are prepared to rescue Jamaica on behalf of the farmers who have been suffering without any extension services, we are prepared to rescue Jamaica on behalf of the people of Jamaica,” he added.
In the last general election, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) won 33 of the 63 seats contested with the remainder going to the PNP. But the JLP has improved its majority by winning two by-elections during the period.
An estimated 1,913,410 persons are on the July 31 voters’ list, up from 1,824,410 in the February 2016 list when the polls were held.
