The People'sNational Party secured at least 44 seats out of a possible 60 in the 1989 General Election. Edward Seaga graciously accepted his defeat and credited his opponents for a successful campaign.

Published Friday, February 10, 1989

PNP sweeps to power

-JLP fails in third-term bid

 

THE PEOPLE'S NATIONAL PARTY swept back to power in yesterday's General Election, with a count, at press time, of 44 seats won in the 60-seat House of Representatives.

Former Prime Minister Michael Manley led the party to victory, winning his seat in East Kingston and Port Royal by a wide margin.

Mr Edward Seaga, who was the outgoing Prime Minister, won his seat in Kingston West by an equally wide margin, but his party, the Jamaica Labour Party, could only muster 16 seats, as the PNP made a wide sweep of the polls.

At about 10:45 last night, Mr Seaga, whose party was seeking an unprecedented third term, conceded victory to the PNP. Gracious in defeat, he congratulated the PNP on its success in the elections, which he attributed to the expertise of their campaign. “The people have spoken and we abide by their decision,” he said.

Mr Manley, in a victory message, said: “I am happy that we have won. I am very conscious of the great challenges that we face, but the first thing that I want to do now is to make it clear to all Jamaicans that we want to be united.”

In a nationwide broadcast later, he said he would call on Sir Florizel Glasspole, Governor General, this morning at 10 o'clock to discuss the swearing-in of his Cabinet.

Early results indicated a PNP runaway win, when Arnold Nicholson, its candidate in St Andrew West Central, was the first to come home, scoring a decisive triumph over the JLP's Ferdinand Yap, the two-term holder of the seat.

From then on, it was the PNP nearly all the way. The islandwide swing from JLP to PNP, expressed in percentages, was 16 per cent. The PNP took 57 per cent of the votes polled, compared to their performance in the 1980 General Election when their percentage was 41 per cent.

The four Independent candidates, two in the Corporate Area, one in St Thomas and one in St James, lost their deposits.

Problems with the electoral process, such as the late opening of polling stations, missing ballots and sporadic outbursts of violence, which claimed at least one life, marred what had been hoped would be a peaceful Election Day.

But the campaign ended as it had developed, a stormy, bitterly contested battle, despite the signing of a Peace Accord between the leaders of the two major political parties and the duplication of this effort at the constituency level. Political violence, the bane of Jamaican elections, was again to the fore.

Some of the Ministers in the former Government retained their seats. Among them were Mr Hugh Shearer, Dr Neville Gallimore, Mr Karl Samuda, Mr Errol Anderson, Mr Pearnel Charles, Mr Mike Henry, Mr Bruce Golding, Mr Edmund Bartlett.

But among those who lost were Mr J.A.G. Smith and Mr Clifton Stone, in Clarendon; Mr Brascoe Lee, in Trelawny; while Mr Alva Ross, who was the Speaker of the House, also had his St. Mary seat taken from him, the first time that this seat has gone to the PNP.

On the PNP side, some old faces were returned to the parliamentary scene. They include Mr P.J. Patterson, Dr Douglas Manley, Dr Aston King, Mr Desmond Leaky, Mr Derrick Rochester, Mr Sydney Pagon, Mr Seymour Mullings, Mr Ben Clare, and Mr O.D. Ramtallie, Mr Hugh Small, and Mr Carl Rattray.

But perhaps the PNP's best victory was that of the veteran Mr Ralph Brown, long-time Cabinet Minister and Mayor of Kingston, who beat off the challenge of a powerful newcomer, Miss Olivia Grange, of the JLP, after a contest that was marked by some of the most frightening acts of violence in the election.

Perhaps because of the violence in the Corporate Area, which persisted into Election Day, there was not as large a turn-out of voters. Heavy polling took place in some areas of the city, where voters lined up in great numbers to exercise their franchise, but the Corporate Area turnout was 76.

Reports from the rural areas said that 66 per cent of the electors went to the polls, and did so peacefully, unlike some of their Corporate Area counterparts. For Mr Manley, it was a day of intense activity, crowned at night by victory. Up early, he polled his vote and then went on a tour of the city, in which he was involved in some of the excitement of the day. Some ugly scenes threatened, but in the end, peace prevailed.

Mr Seaga's day was somewhat, similar. He was out and about early, although he did not record his own vote until the early afternoon. But he, too, was involved in some of the day's dramatic events, one of them being a confrontation with foreign journalists.

So the 1989 General Election ended, with not quite the landslide that some had predicted and yet not the close contest that some others had anticipated.

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