General elections were held in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

on 29 December 2011. The elections were contested mainly between the nation's two major political parties, the governing

Jamaica Labour Party The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is one of the two major political parties in Jamaica, the other being the People's National Party (PNP). While its name might suggest that it is a social democratic party (as is the case for "Labour" parties in seve ...

(JLP), led by

Andrew Holness Andrew Michael Holness, (born 22 July 1972) is a Jamaican politician who has been the Prime Minister of Jamaica since 3 March 2016, following the 2016 Jamaican general election. Holness previously served as prime minister from October 2011 to ...

, and the

Portia Simpson-Miller Portia Lucretia Simpson-Miller (born 12 December 1945) is a Jamaican politician. She served as Prime Minister of Jamaica from March 2006 to September 2007 and again from 5 January 2012 to 3 March 2016. She was the leader of the People's Nationa ...

-led opposition

People's National Party The People's National Party (PNP) is a Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Jamaica, political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by independence campaigner Osmond Theodore Fairclough. It holds 14 of the 63 seats in ...

(PNP). The result was a

landslide victory A landslide victory is an election result in which the victorious candidate or party wins by an overwhelming margin. The term became popular in the 1800s to describe a victory in which the opposition is "buried", similar to the way in which a geol ...

for the PNP which won 42 of the 63 seats, a two-thirds majority.

Background

Since the previous elections in 2007, the number of seats had been increased from 60 (an even number) to 63 (an odd number). The close results of the 2007 general election spurred the change as the Electoral Commission concluded that a tie would not be resolved.

Opinion polls

Opinion polls indicated a slim lead for the opposition PNP six days before the election. The win by the PNP shocked even its leaders, such as Peter Phillips who said that "the results certainly exceeded our most optimistic scenarios". Reports from the Electoral Office of Jamaica indicated that only just over 50 per cent of the entire voting population voted on Election Day, meaning that it was possible for the lower-than-usual voter turnout to have thrown off opinion polls' predictions for the result.

Results

The

(PNP) secured 42 seats out of 63 in a result described as a

. No minor parties won seats in the new Parliament. As a result, the PNP ended four years of rule for the Labour Party, which won 21 seats. Several Labour Party cabinet ministers lost their seats, including National Security Minister Dwight Nelson and Energy Minister Clive Mullings. As a result,

assumed the role of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

for the second time in 5 years and

became one of the shortest-serving Prime Ministers in the history of

. Polling was reported to have proceeded fairly smoothly, despite glitches with fingerprint scanners at some polling stations, and without the violence that has marred previous elections. The

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS; es, Organización de los Estados Americanos, pt, Organização dos Estados Americanos, french: Organisation des États américains; ''OEA'') is an international organization that was founded on 30 April ...

sent an observation mission to oversee the elections and they reported that they had not witnessed "any disturbances or any issues that would cause us any serious concern".

References

{{Jamaican elections Elections in Jamaica

General election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

December 2011 events in North America