Jamaican PM Holness wins third term in fractious election

Sep 05, 2025 News

– Election sees PM’s Labour Party win majority of at least 5 seats in 63-seat parliament.

$Jamaican PM Holness wins third term in fractious election$

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness greets his supporters after declaring victory early on Thursday [Photo from Prime Minister of Jamaica’s official X account]

Aljazeera – Prime Minister Andrew Holness has secured a third term in office, according to the preliminary results from Jamaica’s fractious parliamentary election.

The results released early on Thursday showed that Holness’ Jamaica Labour Party won at least 34 seats in the previous day’s vote. The governing party’s main challenger, the People’s National Party, secured 29 of the 63 seats in parliament.

That saw the opposition party’s leader Mark Golding concede defeat in an election which was dominated by concerns over inequity and the economy, and marred by allegations of corruption and low voter turnout.

“Make no mistake about it, this was not an easy victory,” Holness told supporters after declaring victory, according to the Jamaica Observer.

In a post on X, he announced that his “historic third term” was not just a win for his party but “a win for you, the people”.

Conceding in a brief speech, Golding said he was disappointed in the outcome but acknowledged his opponent’s success.

Despite a vibrant democratic tradition, recent years have seen a decline in poll participation in Jamaica.

The turnout for Wednesday’s polls was just 38.8 percent, which was only slightly higher than the turnout for the 2020 elections, which took place during the pandemic.

More than two million registered voters were eligible to cast their ballots on the island of 2.8 million people.

As the country’s prime minister, Holness is mandated to appoint 13 of the 21 senators to Jamaica’s upper chamber of parliament. The opposition will choose the remainder.

Under Holness, Jamaica has seen a 43 percent drop in killings so far this year, marking the most significant decline in decades, with his administration stepping up firearm seizures and security presence across the Caribbean island.

The Jamaica Labour Party campaigned on this success, positioning itself as the government that pulled the island back from the brink of widespread violence.

It also emphasised fiscal responsibility, low unemployment, and the importance of continuity as it urged voters not to risk reversing progress.

Holness also pledged that his party would double the minimum wage of $100 per 40-hour work week.

The opposition had campaigned by proposing policies to address socioeconomic woes, including raising the income tax threshold to $21,800 from the current $11,200, allowing more working-class Jamaicans to take home more money as a cushion against rising prices.

It also accused the governing party of mismanagement, including over the cost of buying second-hand school buses, and raised questions over the prime minister’s statutory declarations of income, assets and liabilities.

Holness has denied any wrongdoing.

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Andrew Holness, Election, Jamaica, Labour Party

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