Low voter turnouts at May Pen and Yallahs by-elections

The Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) is reporting a 10.85 per cent voter turnout in the May Pen North division by-election and a 15.8 per cent turnout in the Yallahs division by-election between 7 o' clock and 11 o' clock this morning.

The EOJ says all polling stations opened on time at 7:00 a.m.

Voting will close at 5 p.m.

There are 8,286 registered voters in the May Pen North division and 9,145 in Yallahs.

Voting is being held in 61 polling stations across the two electoral divisions.

May Pen North Division:
PNP: Earl Blake
JLP: Tanya-Lee Williams

Why the by-election was called
The seat became vacant following the passing of the JLP's Melvin Jones on December 24, 2017. The JLP currently holds 13 divisions in the Clarendon Municipal Corporation to the PNP's eight.

Yallahs Division
JLP: John Lee
PNP: Constantine Bogle

Why the by-election was called
The JLP's Dean Jones was ruled ineligible to be the councillor for the Yallahs Division by the Supreme Court in March after it found that he was employed to the government at the time of the 2016 local government election, which breached the law.
The PNP now controls five seats in St Thomas Municipal Corporation to the JLP's four seats.

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