Jamaica United Front

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The Jamaica United Front was a small right-wing political party in Jamaica.

In 1980 the party proposed a national unity government of the Jamaica Labour Party and the People's National Party. [1] Party leader Charles Johnson, who had been a member of the United States Army, serving in Vietnam and was running a security company in Kingston, [1] was subsequently involved in an attempted coup on 23 June 1980. [2] The coup was seen by the left as a plot by the CIA. Meanwhile, the Jamaican Labour Party (which had not been involved) saw it as an excuse to bring in troops from Cuba prior to elections. [3] Johnson was acquitted in 1981 when a witness was judged to be unreliable. [4]

The party contested one seat in the 1983 Jamaican general election. The elections that year saw a mass boycott (turnout was just 3%) [5] as the People's National Party protested against the government. The JUF received only 144 votes and failed to win a seat. [5] It did not contest any further elections. [5]

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References

  1. 1 2 Jamaica's Military and Police Meet to Discuss 'Conspiracy'
  2. ↑ The quest for security in the Caribbean, p136
  3. ↑ Jamaica Releases Failed Coup Plot Details
  4. ↑ Political Parties of the Caribbean, 1980s to 1990s
  5. 1 2 3 Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p432–435 ISBN   978-0-19-928357-6


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