Elections in Jamaica

From Jamaica Wiki

The Parliament of Jamaica has two chambers - The House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives has 60 members. They are elected for a five year term in single-seat constituencies. The Senate has 21. Thirteen are chosen by the Prime Minister. The rest are chosen by the Leader of the Opposition.

There are two parties in Jamaica and thus the country has two-party system. Since these two parties are dominant it is hard for other political parties to achieve any electoral success.

The election date is announced by the ruling party several months in advance. This is possible as the term of the prime minister is a fixed five year term. In the recent years there are debates if this system is right for the country. Some consider that a fixed date system will be much better.

Latest elections

The latest elections were the Jamaican general election in 2007 and the Jamaican general election in 2002.

There were also elections on 3 September 2007 – the Jamaican House of Representatives elections. The Jamaica Labor Party won 50.14% of the votes and the People's National Party – 49.77%.