Early general elections were held in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

on 15 December 1983.

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An ex ...

(2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p430 The elections were effectively ended as a contest when the main opposition party, the

People's National Party The People's National Party (PNP) (PNP; ) is a Social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Jamaica, political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by Norman Manley, Norman Washington Manley who served as party president unti ...

, boycotted the election to protest the refusal of the ruling Jamaican Labour Party to update the electoral roll amid allegations of voter fraud.Nohlen, p425 Several minor parties participated in the election, but they only contested six of the 60 seats: with

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

of about 55%, this gave a nationwide figure of a meagre 3%. The Labour Party won all 60 seats in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

, with their leader,

Edward Seaga Edward Philip George Seaga ( ; 28 May 1930 – 28 May 2019) was a Jamaican politician and record producer. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Jamaica, from 1980 to 1989, and the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party from 1974 to 2005.

, continuing as

Prime Minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Background

The Labour Party had convincingly won the 1980 general election, taking 51 of the 60 seats in the House of Representatives. At the time, the party had promised to update the electoral roll, but failed to do so by the 1983 elections. On 25 November 1983, Seaga called early elections, two years before they were due.Jamaica
Inter-Parliamentary Union Seaga claimed that the move was due to People's National Party leader

Michael Manley Michael Norman Manley (10 December 1924 – 6 March 1997) was a Jamaican politician who served as the fourth prime minister of Jamaica, from 1972 to 1980, and from 1989 to 1992. Manley championed a democratic socialist program, and has been ...

calling for him to resign from his post of Finance Minister (which he held in addition to being Prime Minister), and that the early elections would be a public vote of confidence in his austerity plans. Whilst the People's National Party boycotted the elections and called for others to do so as well, three minor parties and several independents contested the elections. Two of the parties, the Christian Conscience Movement and the Jamaica United Front, had never previously contested an election. The other, the Republican Party, had run in the

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

and 1967 elections, but had never received more than 108 votes. However, the opposition and independent candidates only contested six constituencies, resulting in Labour Party candidates winning 54 seats unopposed.

Results

Although turnout in the contested seats was estimated to be around 55%, the overall total was just 3%, by far the lowest in the country's history and one of three occasions (the others being 2016 and 2020) it has been below 50%.

Aftermath

The Labour Party government was sworn in on 19 December, and remained in power until the 1989 elections, in which the People's National Party won 45 of the 60 seats. On 30 December Governor-General

Florizel Glasspole Sir Florizel Augustus Glasspole (25 September 1909 – 25 November 2000) was the third and longest-serving governor-general of Jamaica, in office from 1973 to 1991. Early life and education Florizel Glasspole was born in Kingston, Jamaica ...

appointed eight independent senators; Clarence Reid, Charles Sinclair, Emil George, Errol Miller, Lloyd Barnett, Courtney Lloyd Fletcher, Barbara Makeda Blake and Keith Worrell, who were recommended by Seaga.G-G appoints eight opposition Senators on PM's recommendation
Kingston Gleaner, 30 December 1983

References

{{Jamaican elections

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Elections in Jamaica