The JLP created history at the polls as they battered the PNP in the general election. Unseating veteran MPs and securing their seats, the party is set to occupy at least 50 of the 60 posts in Parliament.

Published Friday, October 31, 1980

 

MASSIVE 80% TURNOUT OF VOTERS IN THE GENERAL ELECTION

 

JLP WINS IN LANDSLIDE

Could win 50 seats:

10 ministers defeated

 

CONFIRMING PRE-ELECTION predictions that it would win the 1980 general election by a wide margin, the Jamaica Labour Party swept to power yesterday.

At press time last night, with the preliminary count not completed, indications were that the JLP would win by a landslide. Of the 60 seats in the House of Representatives, the JLP had won 20 and was leading in 20, pointing to a final count of some 50 seats.

This victory would represent the biggest victory for the JLP since 1944, when it won 22 seats to the PNP's five, in the smaller House.

Aided by a massive turnout of voters – an unofficial estimate put the figure at 80 per cent, a record for local elections – the JLP, led by Mr Edward Seaga, was a runaway winner in the voting. It established an early lead and never looked back.

Ten former ministers have so far lost their seats – Mr P.J. Patterson, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mr Hugh Small, Minister of Finance; Mr Howard Cooke, Minister of the Public Service; Mr Carlyle Dunkley, Minister of Public Utilities; Mr Derrick Heaven, Minister of Industry and Commerce; Mr Arnold Bertram, Minister of State, Prime Minister's Office; Mr Sydney Pagon, Minister of State, Local Government; Mr Winston Jones, Minister of State, Foreign Affairs; Mr Ruddy Lawson, Minister of State, Local Government; Mr Desmond Leakey, Minister of State, Agriculture.

JLP makes history

Mr Small's defeat made history, being the first time that this traditional PNP seat of East Kingston was lost by the party.

For the JLP, notable winners were Mr Allan Isaacs, a former PNP minister who changed parties after 1972, and who was the second oldest candidate; Mr Edwin Allen (North West Clarendon), the oldest, who has been more in Parliament than out since 1949; and Miss Joan Gordon, who won the fateful East Rural St Andrew seat which had been held by the late Mr Roy McGann.

Despite a spurt in the course of the counting of the votes, the People's National Party, the other major contender in the election, was only able to win 8 seats and leading in 2. It was a reversal of fortunes for the PNP, led by Mr Michael Manley, which had two terms in office since 1972 when it took over the reins of government from the JLP.

Both party leaders won their seats. Mr Seaga, who had been leader of the Opposition in the previous government, held his West Kingston constituency by the usual wide margin – he polled 9,238 votes to his PNP opponent's 613. But Mr Manley, who had been the prime minister in the previous government, had to fight to keep the East Central Kingston seat; polling 6,753 votes to 5,476 by his JLP rival, in a close race.

Described by most political observers as the most crucial election in Jamaica's contemporary history, yesterday's poll concluded an election campaign that was marked by two special factors: the extraordinary length of the campaign, and the unprecedented level of violence.

Although the official announcement of the election date, October 30, was wade by Mr Manley on October 5, the island had been on 'Election Alert' since February of this year when Mr Manley told the nation that his PNP government was prepared to cut short its normal five-year term (which would end next December), and go to the polls.

As for the level of violence, it was agreed on all sides that never before has a Jamaican election been fought with such ferocity. Guns were used on a scale never seen before, and the number of political deaths rose to a record height.

Appeals for peace from church and other leaders, and a peace pact between Mr Manley and Mr Seaga failed to stem the violence which reached a crescendo following Nomination Day, October 15.

There was lessened violence yesterday, election day, when the security forces blanketed the island with policemen and soldiers, ensuring that the nation's 990,367 electors on the Voters' List could go in safety to the 5,477 polling stations throughout the island, and cast their ballots.

Under this "security blanket", election day passed relatively smoothly. There was a hitch at some polling stations, which either did not open early or were unable to get started at the ordained time of 7 a.m. because of the late arrival of some poll officers or lack of some materials and equipment. But as the day progressed some of the  problems were straightened out, and the electoral machinery got into motion.

Heeding appeals to go out early and vote, the electors turned out in large numbers as soon as the polls opened. There was some amount of frustration at those stations where hitches occurred, but the majority of the voters took the situation in good humour – and waited patiently to exercise their franchise. By mid-afternoon, most of the votes had been cast, with only the stragglers and other late voters left to come in.

A total of 127 candidates contested the election, both the JLP and the PNP running 60 each. The seven Independents all lost.

Starting with a prayer

Prime Minister-elect Edward Seaga left Tivoli Gardens at about 8:30 last night. By then he knew he had won. He knew too that the JLP had won and it seemed like a massive victory. His first act was to drive home to change before going to the JLP headquarters for the celebrations.

As he reached home, he asked that the rector of his church be telephoned so that he could meet with him to pray.

The Rev Herman Spence of the St Andrew Parish Church was quick to reply and decided to visit Mr Seaga at his home.

The Rev Herman Spence then prayed with Mr Seaga and his family and household. Thus the newly elected prime minister began his awesome task.

 He then left for the party office.

OVERWHELMING MANDATE — SEAGA

DESCRIBING THE JAMAICA Labour Party's victory in the general election as "an overwhelming mandate by the people of Jamaica", Mr Edward Seaga, leader of the party, said last night that the victory would enable his government to "give the people the policies and programmes necessary to restore the economy".

Speaking of the party's landslide victory, Mr Seaga said the principal priority was to restore the country to a level of economic buoyance. But, he warned, it would take at least three years to achieve this.

A second priority was the restoration of public integrity.

"Over the years, Jamaicans in their own country had been deprived of human rights and accorded the status of second-class citizens by the Government's use of its powers to oppress, victimise and abuse and to generally allow the citizens to be divided into two categories – those who supported the government in power and those who did not," he said.

The Jamaica Labour Party had devised a means of bringing about a restoration of equal rights and justice, he said. He added that he came back into political life in 1974 to accept the challenge of trying to bring the people of the country together in a manner that would unify them and help to build the nation.

Seaga said that no PNP member should fear the JLP's victory because it was the party's intention and purpose to "bring into the mainstream of the public life of this country all the parts of Jamaica.

The JLP had no plans to close the airports, or to persecute, or had any plans that could lead anyone to be fearful, he said, but he warned that there were "wrongdoers and wrongdoings", and it was incumbent on the Government to bring these to the public.

On foreign policy, Mr Seaga said that the JLP believed in maintaining a balance and would not carry a "high profile in any single direction".

"We are a non-aligned country and in that respect, we are not one of those non-aligned countries that are tied to the coat-tails of any superpower," he said.

Seaga expressed displeasure with "the conduct and behaviour" of the Cuban Ambassador to Jamaica, Sr Ulisses Estrada, declaring that he had offended us as a people in the presence of a government that did not have the pride, power, or authority to remove him.

 "When I am sworn in as prime minister, my intention is to ask the Cuban Ambassador to leave Jamaica because he is persona non grata," he declared, an announcement greeted by approval from the large gathering which had crammed the room.

Mrs Seaga and their daughter were among the thousands who heard Mr Seaga declare that the JLP's victory was the voice of the people speaking against Communism.

Seaga arrived at the party's Belmont  Road headquarters at about 9.20 p.m., where he was greeted by jubilant supporters who had gathered there celebrating the party's triumph at the polls.

Having defeated his opponent, Mr Chadderton Ward of the PNP, by more than  8,000 votes – polling 9,328 to Mr Ward's 613 – Mr Seaga first went to Tivoli Gardens Community Centre. There, thousands of supporters gathered to greet him. In a short address thanking them for their support, he told them that in monitoring the PNP's radio, certain things had become apparent. He said he believed that they were planning to do something once they saw defeat.

Seaga then drove through the constituency accompanied by his supporters, who were joined by hundreds of others, some of whom rushed to clear roadblocks to allow the leader through.

Victorious JLP candidates Mr Webley and Dr Mavis Gilmour, as well as defeated candidates Mr Ivan Moore and Mr Ryan Peralto, were among those at the headquarters.

Seaga expressed gratitude to his team and promised that they would do their best as was humanly possible to fulfil the electorate's expectation, realising that they had a job to build what was almost a "battle-torn, war-destroyed" economy and to restore it to "levels of prosperity and stability that was once enjoyed by the Jamaican people".

 

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