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 Thursday, 3 September 2020"Jamaica Votes In General Election On September 3, 2020"
(). ''Jamaica Gleaner'', 11 August 2020. to elect 63 members of

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. As the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

stipulates a five-year parliamentary term, the next elections were not expected until between 25 February and 10 June 2021. However,

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 ...

Andrew Holness Andrew Michael Holness, (born 22 July 1972) is a Jamaican politician who has served as Prime Minister of Jamaica since 3 March 2016, having previously served from 2011 to 2012, and as Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) since 2011. Ho ...

called early elections to ensure a united response to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On the advice of Holness,

Governor General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

Patrick Allen Patrick Allen may refer to: * Patrick Allen (actor) (1927–2006), British actor * Patrick Allen (music educator) (born 1955), English author * Patrick Allen (American football) (1961–2021), American football player * Patrick Allen (bowler) (born ...

dissolved Parliament on 13 August 2020. The result was a

landslide victory A landslide victory is an election result in which the winning Candidate#Candidates in elections, candidate or political party, party achieves a decisive victory by an overwhelming margin, securing a very large majority of votes or seats far beyo ...

for the ruling

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 se ...

, which received 57% of the vote and won 49 seats; 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 ...

remained the opposition party, losing 16 seats. Amid the COVID-19

pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...

and the

2019–2020 dengue fever epidemic The 2019–2020 dengue fever epidemic was an epidemic of the infectious disease dengue fever in several countries of Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Thailand, Singapore, and Laos. The ...

, voter turnout was only 38%, the lowest in an election since

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

Background

Prior to the election, the

, led by Prime Minister

, formed a

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. Such a government can consist of one party that holds a majority on its own, or be a coalition government of multi ...

. The largest opposition party was the

, led by

Peter Phillips Peter Mark Andrew Phillips (born 15 November 1977) is a British businessman. He is the son of Anne, Princess Royal, and Mark Phillips, and a nephew of King Charles III. At the time of his birth during the reign of his maternal grandmothe ...

. Either the

or the

have been in power since

universal suffrage Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion ...

was introduced in

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

Electoral system

The 63 members of 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 ...

are elected in single-member

constituencies An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

. Voters must be 18 years and over and be a citizen of Jamaica or a

Commonwealth citizen A Commonwealth citizen is a citizen of a Commonwealth of Nations member state. Most member countries generally do not treat citizens of other Commonwealth states any differently from foreign nationals, but may grant limited citizenship rights ...

. The leader of the party commanding a majority of support in the House of Representatives is called on by the

to form a government as Prime Minister, while the leader of the largest group or coalition not in government becomes the

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

Campaign

Only two parties registered to contest the election, the

and the

, and each nominated candidates in all 63 constituencies. The two parties agreed to participate in three televised debates hosted by the Jamaica Debates Commission.black, PNP, JLP agree to political debates ahead of next general elections
Jamaica Observer, 18 October 2019 The People's National Party campaigned for a referendum on removing

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

as head of state. On 15 August 2020, the pastors of the

Christian right The Christian right are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with their interpretation ...

Jamaica Progressive Party announced that the party would not contest the elections due to lack of time to prepare.

Contesting parties

Slogans and songs

Incumbent MPs not seeking re-election

Seven members of parliament did not stand for re-election:

Candidates

Candidate nominations were finalised on nomination day, 18 August 2020. The full candidate list is presented below, along with the incumbent candidates before the election. MPs who are not standing for re-election are marked (†). Government ministers are in bold, and party leaders are in italics.

Clarendon Parish

Hanover Parish Hanover () is a parish located on the northwestern tip of the island of Jamaica. It is a part of the county of Cornwall, bordered by St. James in the east and Westmoreland in the south. With the exception of Kingston, it is the smallest par ...

Kingston Parish Kingston is one of the 14 Parishes of Jamaica. Together with neighbouring St. Andrew Parish, it makes up the amalgamated Municipal Unit of Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation. The city of Kingston is the parish and national capital. Kingst ...

Manchester Parish The Parish of Manchester () is a Parishes of Jamaica, parish located in west-central Jamaica, in the county of Middlesex. Its Capital (political), capital, Mandeville, Jamaica, Mandeville, is a major business centre. Its St. Paul of the Cross ...

Portland Parish Portland (), with its capital city, capital town Port Antonio, is a Parishes of Jamaica, parish located on Jamaica's northeast coast. It is situated to the north of Saint Thomas Parish, Jamaica, St Thomas and to the east of Saint Mary Parish, ...

Saint Andrew Parish Saint Andrew Parish may refer to several places: Saint Andrew, Barbados (parish) Saint Andrew Parish, Dominica Saint Andrew Parish, Grenada Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica Saint Andrew Parish, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Andrew Parish ...

Saint Ann Parish Saint Ann () is the largest parish in Jamaica. It is situated on the north coast of the island, in the county of Middlesex, roughly halfway between the eastern and western ends of the island. It is often called "the Garden Parish of Jamaica" on ...

Saint Catherine Parish Saint Catherine () is a parish in the south east of Jamaica. It is located in the county of Middlesex, and is one of the island's largest and most economically valued parishes because of its many resources. It includes the first capital of Ja ...

Saint Elizabeth Parish Saint Elizabeth(), one of Jamaica's largest parishes, is located in the southwest of the island, in the county of Cornwall. Its capital, Black River, is located at the mouth of the Black River, the widest on the island. History Saint Elizab ...

Saint James Parish

Saint Mary Parish

Saint Thomas Parish

Trelawny Parish Trelawny (Jamaican Patois: ''Trilaani'' or ''Chrilaani'') is a parish in the county of Cornwall in northwest Jamaica. Its capital is Falmouth. It is bordered by the parishes of Saint Ann in the east, Saint James in the west, and Saint Eliz ...

Westmoreland Parish Westmoreland () is the westernmost parish in Jamaica, on the south side of the island. It lies south of Hanover, southwest of Saint James, and northwest of Saint Elizabeth, in the county of Cornwall. The chief town and capital is Savanna-la- ...

Marginal seats

The following lists identify and rank seats using the vote margin by which the party's candidate finished behind the winning candidate in the 2015 election. This vote margin is given as a percentage of all eligible voters in the district. For information purposes only, seats that have changed hands through subsequent by elections have been noted. Seats whose members have changed party allegiance are ignored.

Opinion polls

Don Anderson, CEO of Market Research Services Limited, Larren Peart, founder and CEO of Bluedot Data Intelligence Limited and Bill Johnson of Johnson's Survey Research Limited Inc have commissioned opinion polling for the general election regularly sampling the electorates' opinions.

CEAC Solutions polling

These polls are used internally by the PNP.

Results

The

ECJ The European Court of Justice (ECJ), officially the Court of Justice (), is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is tasked with interpreting EU ...

reported that 97% of the polling stations had opened by 7:00 AM, and the remaining stations were open by 8:00 AM. The polls closed at 5:00 PM. Election observers included the EU delegation to Jamaica and a domestic NGO, Citizens Action for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE). Before 10:00 PM, preliminary results indicated that the JLP had won 44 seats; for the first time since

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

, the JLP was re-elected while contesting all seats. PNP leader Phillips did not give a concession speech, but called Holness privately to offer congratulations. Phillips resigned as PNP leader on 4 September 2020. The full preliminary count indicated a total of 49 seats for the JLP. A tie in Westmoreland Eastern was declared to be won by the JLP after a recount. PM Holness was sworn in for a new term by

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

Sir Patrick Allen on 7 September 2020. The ceremony, which was held at King's House, was restricted to 32 people to comply with public health measures.

References

{{Jamaican elections

General election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

Elections in Jamaica