Politics in Jamaica takes place in the framework of a representative parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The 1962 Constitution of Jamaica established a parliamentary system whose political and legal traditions closely follow those of the United Kingdom. As the head of state,King Charles III - on the advice of the Prime Minister of Jamaica - appoints a governor-general as his representative in Jamaica. The governor-general has a largely ceremonial role,with their parliamentary function consisting simply of granting royal assent to bills which have passed Parliament. Jamaica constitutes an independent Commonwealth realm.
Michael Norman Manley was a Jamaican politician who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1972 to 1980 and from 1989 to 1992. Manley championed a democratic socialist program,and has been described as a populist. He remains one of Jamaica's most popular prime ministers.
Sir William Alexander Clarke Bustamante was a Jamaican politician and labour leader,who,in 1962,became the first prime minister of Jamaica.
Montego Bay is the capital of the parish of St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population,after Kingston,Spanish Town,and Portmore,all of which form the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area,home to over half a million people. As a result,Montego Bay is the second-largest anglophone city in the Caribbean,after Kingston.
Edward Philip George Seaga was a Jamaican politician and record producer. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Jamaica,from 1980 to 1989,and the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party from 1974 to 2005. He served as leader of the opposition from 1974 to 1980,and again from 1989 until January 2005.
Sir Donald Burns Sangster ON GCVO was a Jamaican solicitor and politician,and the second Prime Minister of Jamaica.
St. James is a suburban parish,located on the north-west end of the island of Jamaica in the county of Cornwall. Its capital is Montego Bay. Montego Bay was officially named the second city of Jamaica,behind Kingston,in 1981,although Montego Bay became a city in 1980 through an act of the Jamaican Parliament. The parish is the birthplace of the Right Excellent Samuel Sharpe,one of Jamaica's seven National Heroes.
The Jamaican order of precedence is as follows:
- Charles III,King of Jamaica
- Governor-General of Jamaica
- Prime Minister of Jamaica
- Deputy Prime Minister of Jamaica
- Leader of the Opposition
Kenneth Lee O'Neil Baugh,was a Jamaican politician and surgeon. A member of the Jamaica Labour Party,he served as Deputy Prime Minister,Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade,and Minister of Health.
CanJet Flight 918 was a flight that was on 19 April 2009 to have taken off from Sangster International Airport (MBJ),Montego Bay,Jamaica,bound for Halifax Stanfield International Airport (YHZ),Halifax,Canada,but was instead seized before takeoff for hours by an armed,lone hijacker. This was likely the fourth hijacking on Jamaican soil,and the second time a Canadian airliner has been hijacked. The likely second hijacking from Jamaica occurred 21 March 1972 when a Jamaica Air Taxi charter Cessna owned by Rudy Mantel and piloted by Marsh Greene was hijacked from Montego Bay Sangster International Airport to Manzanillo Cuba by two U.S. citizens. The first hijacking may have been a BWIA 727 Sunjet on May 1,1970. According to Mr. Wesley Chang,who was on the flight,instead of flying to Miami,the aircraft was forced to go to Havana,Cuba where the men held the 63 passengers,including the crew,hostage for approximately seven hours while demanding that the plane be refueled and flown to Algiers for a meeting with American Author Eldridge Cleaver,a Black Panther who was living there in exile. The likely third hijacking was a thwarted attempt on 3 January 1974,aboard an Air Jamaica flight at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston.
The ministries of Jamaica are created at the discretion of the prime minister of Jamaica to carry out the functions of government. As of 2016,the prime minister is Andrew Holness. The agencies of Jamaica are created by both parliamentary law and assigned to ministers to oversee. The governance structure consists of ministries with portfolios that have agencies that carry out its functions.
Cornwall College is a public high school for boys established in 1896 and located on Orange Street in Montego Bay,Saint James,Jamaica. It is the third oldest high school in the county of Cornwall. As of the 2022-23 school year,the school had an enrollment of just over 1,500 students and 80 classroom teachers,for a student–teacher ratio of 19:1.
L. Michael Henry,C.D.,M.P,is the Member of Parliament for Central Clarendon and is the longest serving Jamaican Parliamentarian with more than 30 unbroken years in the Jamaican Parliament.
Floyd Emerson Morris is a former Jamaican politician from the People's National Party. He was the 12th President of the Senate of Jamaica. Morris,who began losing his sight during high school and lost it fully six years later,became the first blind member of the Senate when he was appointed in 1998.
Herbert Wellesley Eldemire,CD,was a Jamaican politician who served as independent Jamaica's first Minister of Health from 1962 to 1972.
Saint James North Western is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Representatives of the Jamaican Parliament. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It was one of the 32 constituencies fixed in the new constitution granted to Jamaica in 1944. The constituency has featured in all 16 contested Parliamentary General Elections from 1944 to 2016. The current MP is the Hon. Dr. Horace Chang,representing the Jamaica Labour Party,who has been in office since 2002.
Francis Anthony Tulloch was a Jamaican politician,lawyer and diplomat who served as Minister of Tourism from 1997 to 1999.
Ralph Eugene Brown OJ,CD was a Jamaican politician who represented the People's National Party (PNP). He served twice as mayor of Kingston from 1974 to 1977 and again from 1986 to 1989. He was Minister of Works (1978–1980),and Minister of Local Government and Community Development (1989–1992).
Derrick Flavius Leroy Kellier is a Jamaican businessman and politician,representing the People's National Party (PNP). He was Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Saint James Southern from 1989 to 2020. He served as Minister of Labour and Social Security from 2006 to 2007,and again from 2012 to 2015. Kellier also served concurrently as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries from 2014 to 2016.
Royal tours of Jamaica by Jamaica's royal family have been taking place since the 20th century. Elizabeth II,Queen of Jamaica,visited the island six times;in 1953,1966,1975,1983,1994,and 2002.
