Election
Jamaican opposition party appears to win election
The opposition Jamaica Labour Party appeared to win power by a narrow margin on Monday, ending an 18-year reign by the ruling People's National Party, which served notice it would likely challenge the result.
Election officials said a preliminary vote count gave the JLP 31 of the 60 seats in parliament. If the result stands, it would mean a quick end to the tenure of Portia Simpson Miller, Jamaica's first woman prime minister, who took over the leadership of the People's National Party 18 months ago.
A recount could take three days.
JLP leader Bruce Golding, the veteran politician who would become prime minister if the result holds, cautiously sidestepped an outright claim of victory in a speech to cheering supporters late on Monday.
"However perplexing some may find the results, the fact is that the people have spoken and we of the Jamaica Labour Party, we accept and respect the decision," he said.
"At the moment, the Jamaica Labour Party commands a majority of seats in parliament," he added.
The result triggered raucous celebrations in Jamaica's capital. Hundreds of JLP supporters, wearing party green and waving tree branches, cheered at party headquarters and paraded in noisy motorcades through the streets.
But Simpson Miller, in a brief address to glum supporters, said she was not going to concede defeat before the results were final and had been examined closely.
"The election is too close to call," said Simpson Miller, seeking her first election mandate after replacing retiring prime minister P.J. Patterson last year. "As of now we are conceding no victory to the Jamaica Labour Party."
Director of elections Danville Walker told Reuters workers would begin recounting ballots on Tuesday and the process could take two to three days. He said there were about three constituencies that were "closer than razor thin."
Citing voting irregularities, Simpson Miller said PNP candidates could file legal challenges.
"In some constituencies people were barred from exercising their right to vote," she said.
"Rules were being broken. When we should not be campaigning, people were out there campaigning and buying votes and we have this evidence," she added.
THREATS OF VIOLENCE
Jamaicans defied long lines at polling stations, threats of violence and the fringes of a hurricane to vote in an election delayed a week by the passage of Hurricane Dean 15 days ago.
Rain from Hurricane Felix soaked parts of the island as the powerful storm churned 250 miles to the south and large sea swells flooded the road to Kingston's airport.
Election officials reported a few glitches including delayed poll openings and one incident of gunfire near a Kingston voting station.
But the Caribbean island of 2.8 million people appeared to have largely escaped election day violence, after at least 10 people died over the weekend in shootings that provided a tense reminder of past political violence.
Thousands of police and soldiers were assigned to keep the peace. Camouflage-clad troops carrying rifles guarded some polling stations.
(Published by Reuters, September 4, 2007)
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