2019 Portland Eastern by-election

A by-election to the House of Representatives was held for the Portland Eastern constituency on April 4, 2019. The seat was declared vacant due to the murder of member of Parliament Dr. Lynvale Bloomfield on February 2, 2019. ^[1] The election was won by Ann-Marie Vaz of the Jamaica Labour Party.

Background

On March 1, 2019, Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced that the by-election for the Portland Eastern parliamentary seat would be contested on March 25 with nomination day scheduled for March 8. ^[2] However, due to the Ash Wednesday public holiday falling that year on March 6, it did not allow for the five clear days between the announcement of the by-election and Nomination day as stipulated under the Representation of the People's Act. ^{[3] [4]} On March 4, 2019, the Prime Minister announced that Nomination day would be on March 15, 2019, with the election date set for April 4, 2019. ^[5]

Dates

Date	Event
February 2, 2019	Member of Parliament Lvnvale Bloomfield dies under tragic circumstances.
March 5, 2019	Writ of Election issued by Governor-General and announced by Prime Minister [5]
March 15, 2019	Nomination day
April 14, 2019	Polling day

Result

2019 Portland Eastern by-election ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	JLP	Ann-Marie Vaz	9,989	50.6
	PNP	Damion Crawford	9,670	49.0
Rejected ballots			75	0.4
Turnout			19,734	18.7
Registered electors			36,315
	JLP gain from PNP

Voting results Jamaica Labour Party   50.62% People's National Party   49.00% Rejected ballots   0.38%

See also

• Politics of Jamaica
• Elections in Jamaica

References

1. "Police investigate fatal stabbing of Jamaican legislator". Associated Press . 4 February 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
2. "PM announces by-election date for Portland East". Loop Jamaica. 4 February 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
3. "Representation of the People Act 1979". Ministry of Justice (Jamaica) . Retrieved 27 August 2020.
4. "Political Database of the Americas". Georgetown University . Retrieved 27 August 2020.
5. "New date for Portland Eastern poll". Jamaica Observer . 5 March 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
6. "Portland Eastern By-election 2019". Electoral Commission of Jamaica. Retrieved 4 September 2020.