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Jamaicans go to the polls on Thursday to elect a brand new parliament because the nation grapples with a surge in coronavirus infections.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness known as for the early vote final month in what analysts noticed as a bid to capitalise on individuals’s satisfaction together with his financial agenda and early response to the virus.
However he has confronted criticism amid an increase in instances as restrictions are lifted.
Face masks and temperature checks will likely be necessary in polling stations.
Jamaica’s parliament has 63 seats, and members are elected in a first-past-the-post system. The marketing campaign was dominated by discussions over the economic system, methods to struggle crime and the coronavirus pandemic.
Who’re the primary gamers?
Mr Holness, a former training minister and chief of the conservative Jamaican Labour Get together, has been prime minister since March 2016. The 48-year-old is hoping to realize seats from the opposition Individuals’s Nationwide Get together (PNP), led by Peter Phillips.
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At a televised debate on Saturday, the prime minister stated 100,000 jobs had been created throughout his time in workplace whereas 22,000 Jamaicans had had the prospect to purchase their very own houses. Taxes had been lower, he stated, and poverty was at its lowest degree in 10 years.
In accordance with the World Financial institution, inequality in Jamaica is decrease than in most international locations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, however the poverty charge remains to be important – 19% of the inhabitants in 2017.
The pandemic is more likely to have an effect on the nation’s economic system, closely depending on tourism. In the meantime, the prime minister has additionally confronted criticism over excessive charges of crime and violence, and alleged corruption amongst public officers.
In 2011, Mr Holness turned Jamaica’s youngest prime minister on the age of 39, however ruled for less than 74 days after dropping an election to Portia Simpson Miller, the nation’s first feminine head of presidency. His spouse, Juliet, can be a member of parliament and is working for a second time period.
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At Sunday’s debate, Mr Phillips stated his PNP was an alternative choice to “financial stagnation [and] main crime” and that he may supply a “way forward for reduction from Covid-19 pressures”.
Through the marketing campaign, the 70-year-old stated the “majority of the individuals and the poorest had been being left behind” and that training remained a problem. After ending a therapy towards colon most cancers, he declared he was “free” of the illness.
Jamaica at a look
- The Caribbean nation closely depending on tourism has a inhabitants of two.9 million
- It turned unbiased from Britain in 1962, and Queen Elizabeth II is its head of state
- Crime and violence stay excessive whereas youth unemployment and entry to training are key points
- It’s the birthplace of reggae music and Bob Marley was certainly one of its biggest exponents
Sources: BBC Monitoring, World Financial institution
What are the Covid-19 measures in place?
Voters should put on face masks and temperature checks will likely be carried out earlier than they’re let right into a polling station.
Upon getting into, they are going to be required to scrub or sanitise their palms. Electoral officers will even implement social distancing measures.
Special rules have been announced for people who have been in quarantine or in isolation, together with restricted voting hours.
picture copyrightValery Sharifulin through Getty
The nation had an early success in containing Covid-19 however infections have spiked in latest weeks after borders reopened to worldwide travellers. It has confirmed round 2,700 instances and 24 virus-related deaths, based on the well being ministry.
At Sunday’s debate, Mr Holness defended his determination to name the election six months forward of schedule regardless of the pandemic, and rejected claims by Mr Phillips that he had ignored skilled recommendation.
