Portia Simpson Miller's return

Portia Simpson-Miller returns to the corridor of power more than four years after she and the People’s National Party (PNP) was swept out of office by the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in 2007.
Simpson-Miller, 66, the first ever woman head of government in Jamaica, would regard the December 29 general election victory as sweet revenge, inflicting a heavy defeat on outgoing prime minister Andrew Holness, who at 39, had become the youngest ever prime minister in the country.

Simpson-Miller, who became the country’s first ever female prime minister when she replaced then prime minister PJ Patterson in 2006, led the PNP to a 41-22 margin of victory over the incumbent Jamaica labour Party (JLP), according to the preliminary results released here on Thursday night.

Meanwhile, the business community on Friday gave a cautious response to the victory of the People’s National Party (PNP) that saw the return of Portia Simpson-Miller as the head of a new government in Jamaica following Thursday’s general election.
President of the Jamaica Exporters' Association (JEA) Vitus Evans said while he was surprised at the margin of victory, he was optimistic that the JEA would be able to work with the new administration to boost the country's export sector.
He said the optimism was buoyed by recent utterances by Prime Minister designate Simpson-Miller, who in her capacity as Opposition Leader had attended a recent function of the exporters and promised that the export sector was high on the party's agenda.
"We actually met with her two weeks ago where we asked her to actually outline what would be the vision for export and I was happy that she actually did mention that a PNP administration would actually ensure that the national export strategy is actually implemented," said Evans, who indicated that outgoing Prime Minister Andrew Holness was unable to take up the JEA’s invitation.
President of the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association (JMA) Brian Pengelley described the PNP’s victory as “a transition for Jamaica.
“Congratulations to the people of Jamaica, as well, for what has been done," he added.
The President of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC), Milton Samuda, in extending congratulations to Simpson-Miller, commented on her strength of character.
"There is something special about Mrs Simpson Miller because in my lifetime the only other politician who has received the direct personal onslaught would be Edward Seaga, and he didn't survive it. For her to not only survive it but to return and triumph, I think requires study," he said.
 "There can be no mistaking the voice of the people and the Chamber of Commerce will work with the Government, especially on the growth agenda to ensure that the climate is created for growth," he added.
The preliminary results show that the PNP received 53 per cent of the popular vote with 48.2 per cent of the 1.67 million eligible voters casting their ballots.
The election was a crushing blow for the JLP that had appealed to voters to provide it with a second consecutive term in power to continue the rehabilitation of the island’s economy.
There were several Cabinet ministers who were casualties of the election, including agriculture minister Robert Montague, industry minister Clive Mullings and national security minister Dwight Nelson.
Sharon Hay-Webster who two months before switched allegiance from the PNP to the JLP, was defeated by PNP candidate Denise Daley in the race in one of the new constituencies arising out of border re-configurations by the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ).
In the 2007 general election, Hay-Webster won the seat -which was then called St Catherine South Central - for the PNP.
But the polls provided an historic occasion for the PNP, with 62-year-old Dr. Peter Phillip, the party’s campaign manager and former national security minister, being joined in Parliament by his 39-year-old son, Mikael Phillip, who won the North West Manchester constituency.
Norman Manley and Michael Manley were the other father and son team to serve in Jamaica's parliament.
History was also created in the PNP when party stalwart, Michael Peart, the candidate in Manchester Southern, had an easy victory  securing a fifth term in Parliament and cemented his place in the annals of Jamaican politics. Peart has held the seat since 1993 when he took the reins from the brother of the late Michael Manley - Dr Douglas Manley.
There will also be several newcomers from the PNP in the parliament including newspaper publisher Lloyd B. Smith, attorney at law Patrick Hylton and former president of the PNP's Youth Organisation, Damion Crawford.
University of the West Indies (UWI) political lecturer, Professor Rupert Lewis said the defeat of the JLP should not result in a change of leadership.
Lewis said while Holness' role as leader will come under review, he should be allowed to remain in the post.
“It's a defeat for the new leader of the Jamaica Labour Party but at 39 he is still young so you’ll have a pretty vigorous Opposition. His leadership will certainly undergo some assessment within the party but I don’t think having lost this election that is sufficient basis for a leadership change,” Lewis said.
President-General of the JLP-aligned Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), Kavan Gayle, said Holness still enjoys the backing of the party despite Thursday's defeat.
“He became leader because of consensus and he had garnered the level of support and one would have anticipated that that would have transcended into a JLP victory tonight but I certainly still believe Andrew Holness is still going to have the support in the Jamaica Labour Party.
“There is evidence in the party that those who supported him, those that stood by him and I certainly believe that that is going to continue,” Gayle said.
Meanwhile, electoral officials said they would be undertaking a review of the Electronic Identification of the Voter and Ballot Issuing System (EIVBIS), following complaints that it hampered voting at some polling stations on Thursday.
The system was used in eight constituencies in parish capital of Kingston and  the central parish of St. Catherine.
“We will have to review how we performed and we have noted the complaints and we need to assess to see if the system was performing below the level that we anticipated, even though the ones I visited indicated that persons were taking approximately three minutes to vote but the complaints are something that we cannot ignore, so we will conduct a review,” said Fisher.