There were bells, screams and loud banter throughout the streets of Jamaica as news broke of the Referendum vote. While there were a few incidents of violence, the day ran smoothly.

Published Wednesday, September 20, 1961

IT’S JAMAICA ALONE

The People Vote Against Federation

By Gleaner Political Reporter

THE ELECTORATE of Jamaica, on September 19, 1961, answered the referendum question with a decisive “no”. Bells were rung throughout Jamaica from Negril Point to Morant Point.

The people had been asked to answer the question: Should Jamaica remain in the Federation of the West Indies?

Last night, the count of all 4, 614 boxes showed that 251,935 persons voted “no” and 216,400 persons voted “yes”, a clear majority of 35, 535.

But clear as the answer was from those who voted yesterday, a clearer picture of the mind of the Jamaican people was shown in the final votes. Only Kingston, St Andrew, St Ann and Manchester voted in the majority for continued participation in the Federation and, of Jamaica’s 45 constituencies, 31 voted in favour of Jamaica’s withdrawal from the Federation and 14 voted in favour, a bigger margin than the PNP’s victory over the JLP in 1959.

The record poll which had been expected by many political observers did not materialise, although the poll was much larger than the poll in 1958 when the JLP won 12 of Jamaica’s 17 seats in the Federal House of Representatives in a 53 per cent poll.

Yesterday, in the quietest 'election' day yet observed in Jamaica, 468,335 voters out of a possible total of 774,759 went to the polls, four per cent of the voting population. Of this total vote, 53. 8 per cent of the people voted against continued participation in the Federation, and 46.2 per cent voted for the continuation.

“YES” VOTES PEAK IN TWO HOURS

The bulk of the people voting “yes”, other than in the parish of St Ann, were from the urban areas of Jamaica, with Kingston and St Andrew giving a lead to the PNP, but the lead was not sufficient to offset the avalanche of “nos” which came in from the rural areas. 

The result was that, within one hour after the counting of the votes had got underway, while PNP partisans were giving the victory to the PNP on the basis of the Corporate Area returns, knowledgeable observers were able to predict a definite victory for the “nos”.

The "yes” answers reached their peak at 6:55 p.m. After that, it fell swiftly, and, by 7:30, the “no” answers had taken over the lead by 5,348 votes and this lead was never relinquished. The final box counts (from West St Catherine) reached Kingston at 11:40 p.m.

When the referendum question was raised, the Hon Norman Manley, QC, premier of Jamaica and principal protagonist of continued participation in the Federation, said, “The people have decided finally.”

Sir Alexander Bustamante, leader of the Opposition and principal antagonist of continued participation in the Federation, declared: “We told the people the truth about the dangers of Federation and they accepted it.”

There was jubilation in the JLP and PPP camps; there was subdued reassessment in PNP circles.

Voting started out yesterday morning very slowly. Indeed it was so slow that, up to 11 o’clock, only a minority of voters had cast votes in any of the island’s 4,000-odd polling stations. Prospects of an unprecedented poll dimmed in the face of this early apathy of the island’s voters, and this was particularly marked in the Corporate Area.

But, after 11 o’clock, things began to pick up and voters began to turn out in areas where it appeared to political observers that it would do the pro-Federationists no good.

In fact, even in the slow polling of the Corporate Area yesterday, it was marked that the heaviest polling in the early hours was in Western Kingston and South-West St Andrew.

By 4 o’clock the rural areas had passed the Corporate Area far in the percentages of polling, and it was only a last-minute surge of voters in certain constituencies which brought the percentage of Corporate Area polling up to the level of the rural constituencies.

Incidents were few and far between during the actual period of polling. It was after the poll results that the demonstrations started which in the Corporate Area and police squads tried to keep demonstrations off the streets. In the island’s main capitals, anti-federation supporters erupted into the streets, ringing bells, shouting cries of “Freedom”.

Just a few

In most cases, the police removed the demonstrators quickly off the main streets, but, in odd corners of the city and in some rural towns, bells continued to be rung and children who had no bells beat with sticks and stones on tin cans making a tintinnabulation in accompaniment to the victory shouts of their elders.

At Drumblair, home of the Hon Norman Manley QC, the atmosphere was subdued when the trend of the referendum became a steady final “no”. When it was clear that, so far as the referendum was concerned all was lost, Mr Manley went into a huddle with his ministers who were present. They were the Hon Wills O. Isaacs, the Hon William Seivright, the Hon Keble Munn and the Hon Florizel Glasspole.

At Tucker Avenue, Sir Alexander Bustamante, surrounded by most of the principal lieutenants, was in high spirits as there was an impromptu celebration party.

And, since the outcome of the referendum was known without doubt by 8 o’clock, and police vigilance was at its peak, the night petered out with just a few incidents of violence reported.

The Chief Electoral Officer, O. M. Royes, decided to close down at 10 o’clock when only two constituencies’ preliminary final counts had not come in.

“It is not really patting ourselves on the back,” he said, “but I would say we have broken all previous records for the results to come in. It is most gratifying that the unstinted efforts of Returning Officers and all election workers have resulted in the machinery working so smoothly. As far as the voting and the coming in of the results are concerned, we have done our part.”

Mr Royes was assisted at his office last night by his entire staff, led by Mr E.M. Lampart, assistant chief electoral officer.

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