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Ballot recount confirms Jamaican opposition's victory in parliamentary elections

Xinhua, March 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

Jamaica's electoral authorities on Tuesday released the result of a ballot recount for last week's parliamentary elections, confirming the slim-margin victory of the opposition Jamaica Labor Party (JLP).

The JLP, led by Andrew Holness, garnered 32 seats in the 63-seat House of Representatives, while the People's National Party (PNP), led by incumbent Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller, won the other 31 seats, a ballot recount by the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) showed.

This result is different from what was released last Thursday, when the JLP was seen holding 33 seats while the PNP, 30.

The EOJ said the revision was done because in the procedural recount, returning officers found that the seat for the constituency of St. Mary South East, which had been taken by the JLP based on preliminary results, was eventually the PNP's.

However, JLP candidate for this constituency Norman Dunn, who lost the seat in the recount by nine votes to the PNP's Winston Green, refused to concede the defeat. He has filed a writ for a magisterial recount, which was scheduled for Wednesday.

Dunn argued that some votes for him, which had been accepted in the preliminary counting, were improperly rejected during the recount, while some ballots for Green were improperly accepted.

As a result, member of parliament for the constituency, as well as distribution of parliamentary seats, will be finalized at the end of the magisterial recount, after which JLP leader Holness will be sworn in as the country's new prime minister.

Jamaica's parliament has two chambers -- the 63-member House of Representatives, which is directly elected, and the 21-member Senate, of which 13 members are chosen by the prime minister and the other eight by the leader of the opposition.

Parliamentary members in Jamaica have five-year terms. The party which holds the majority seats in the House of Representatives will form the cabinet and its leader will serve as the prime minister. Endi