Prime Minister Holness wins first third term for a JLP government in a close election

JAMAICA / BAHAMAS - Report 15 Sep 2025 by Keith Collister

In a hard-fought, close election, Prime Minister (PM) Andrew Holness was re-elected for the first third term for a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government, and now equals former Peoples National Party (PNP) PM PJ Patterson in having been elected three times (Jamaica does not have term limits). The result was close, with the PNP doubling its seats to 28, while the JLP was reduced to 35, out of the 63 parliamentary seats. However, importantly, the JLP seat losses did not include any key Ministers, so we do not expect radical changes in the Cabinet, which is likely to be announced early this week after the PM is sworn in by our Governor General, still representing King Charles as head of state.

The critical factor in the JLP victory was probably the surprisingly low turnout, which, at only 39.5% of registered voters (the third lowest ever), favored the ruling JLP. While barely above the roughly 38% turnout of the 2020 “Covid” election, when the JLP “crushed” the PNP, most of this year’s new voters (nearly 100,000) apparently voted for the PNP. The consensus view, however, is still that some of the PNP’s projected larger base stayed home, despite a much more unified party than last time.

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