Watch: ‘Slow but steady’ voting in Morant Bay by-election

Voting is “slow but steady” in St Thomas Eastern, where Winston Downie of the Jamaica Labor Party and Rosemarie Shaw of the People’s National Party are battling it out for the Morant Bay Division, which has been without a councilor since May this year.

The 39 polling stations in 19 locations opened promptly at 7 this morning. The Observer has so far visited eight polling stations in the Morant Bay area. Election day workers for both parties reported that the day so far had been uneventful but full of hope.

“We are fine. The PNP river is going down from bank to bank,” a worker told the Observer.

Denise Daley of the PNP, who was seen at the New Testament Church of God in Morant Bay, which hosts three polling stations, said “it’s very good, people are coming out slowly but quite orderly and it’s clear that people are -they prepared”.

At Morant Bay Primary School in the heart of the city, where five polling stations are located, things were also progressing “quietly” when the Observer visited. A police officer on duty told the newspaper that, except for a few cases where some voters showed up without proper identification, things were going smoothly. He said in those cases individuals were allowed to swear or be affirmed under election laws.

About 75,000 Jamaicans are eligible to vote in Friday’s four by-elections.

Voters in St Andrew North Western and Trelawny Southern will go to the polls to elect new Members of Parliament, while voters in Aenon Town, Clarendon; and Morant Bay, St Thomas, will vote for new councillors.

The PNP opted not to nominate candidates to run in the parliamentary elections, but fielded candidates in the two local government contests.

The Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) government has indicated that Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert will return as the JLP representative for the seat of Trelawny Southern, while Duane Smith, the son of former Member of Parliament (MP) for St Andrew North Western Derrick Smith, will replace Dr. Nigel Clarke as standard bearer for the JLP in the constituency.