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.
The People's National Party (PNP) is a social democratic political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by Norman Washington Manley who served as party president until his death in 1969. It holds 14 of the 63 seats in the House of Representatives, as 96 of the 227 local government divisions. The party is democratic socialist by constitution.
Percival Noel James Patterson,, popularly known as P.J. Patterson, is a Jamaican former politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1992 to 2006. He served in office for 14 years, making him the longest-serving prime minister in Jamaica's history. He was the leader of the People's National Party from 1992 to 2006.
The Jamaica Labour Party is one of the two major political parties in Jamaica, the other being the People's National Party (PNP). While its name might suggest that it is a social democratic party, the JLP is actually a conservative party.
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.
Orette Bruce Golding is a former Jamaican politician who served as eighth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 11 September 2007 to 23 October 2011. He is a member of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which he led from 2005 to his resignation in 2011.
Lisa Rene Shanti Hanna is a Jamaican politician and beauty queen who was crowned Miss World 1993, becoming the third Jamaican to win the title. A member of the opposition People's National Party, Hanna currently serves as Member of Parliament for Saint Ann South East, and was Jamaica's Minister of Youth and Culture from 2012–2016. Hanna was a candidate in the 2020 People's National Party leadership election, following the PNP's defeat at the 2020 Jamaican general election and the subsequent resignation of PNP President and Opposition Leader, Peter Phillips. Hanna was defeated by Mark Golding, receiving 1,444 votes to Golding's 1, 740 votes, a difference of 296 votes.
Portia Lucretia Simpson-Miller is a Jamaican former politician. She served as Prime Minister of Jamaica from March 2006 to September 2007 and again from 5 January 2012 to 3 March 2016. She was the leader of the People's National Party from 2005 to 2017 and the Leader of the Opposition twice, from 2007 to 2012 and from 2016 to 2017.
Andrew Michael Holness, is a Jamaican politician who has served as Prime Minister of Jamaica since 3 March 2016, having previously served from 2011 to 2012, and as Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) since 2011.
Kenneth Wykeham McNeill, MD, MP, CD is a Jamaican politician and former Member of Parliament for Westmoreland West, Jamaica. He is a former government minister. He was the Minister of Tourism of Jamaica from 2012 to 2016. He was elected the first vice chair of the Executive Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organization representing Jamaica in 2012 and elected chairman of the Executive council for the 2014-2015 period. McNeill was elected a Vice President of The People's National Party at the Party's annual conference in September 2016.
Sharon Hay-Webster is a Jamaican politician. She was a member of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Jamaica from 1997 to 2012, representing the People's National Party. She came to international attention after the 2004 Haitian coup d'état, when she escorted Jean-Bertrand Aristide from his temporary exile in the Central African Republic to Jamaica at the invitation of then-Prime Minister of Jamaica P. J. Patterson.
Peter Phillips OJ MP is a Jamaican politician who has served as the MP for Saint Andrew East Central since 1993.
Peter Murcott Bunting, MP was the fifth National Security Minister of Jamaica and the Former Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Central Manchester. Bunting was the General Secretary of the People's National Party, a position which he has held from January 2008 to January 2014. In the 2020 People's National Party leadership election, Bunting was the lead contender in the polls before the PNP's stunning defeat in the 2020 Jamaican general election, in which he lost his Manchester Central seat in Jamaica's parliament.
Phillip Paulwell is a Jamaican politician. Paulwell is the current Member of Parliament for the constituency of Kingston East and Port Royal and former Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining STEM in the People's National Party administration, which has formed the Government of Jamaica following the party's electoral victory in the December 2011 General Elections.
General elections were held in Jamaica on Thursday, 3 September 2020 to elect 63 members of Parliament. As the constitution stipulates a five-year parliamentary term, the next elections were not expected until between 25 February and 10 June 2021. However, Prime Minister Andrew Holness called early elections to ensure a united response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On the advice of Holness, Governor General Patrick Allen dissolved Parliament on 13 August 2020.
Republicanism in Jamaica is a position which advocates that Jamaica's system of government be changed from a constitutional monarchy to a republic. Both major political parties – the Jamaica Labour Party and the People's National Party – subscribe to the position, and the current Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, has announced that transitioning to a republic will be a priority of his government. In June 2022, the Jamaican government announced its intention that Jamaica become a republic by the time of the next general election in 2025. The process will include a two-thirds majority vote in parliament along with a referendum.
Jamaica is the first English-speaking country in the Caribbean to achieve universal adult suffrage and grant women the right to be elected to Parliament. Between 1944 and 2020, a total of 47 women have been elected as members of the House of Representatives. As of September 2020 there are 18 women in the House of Representatives, the highest ever. This is a new all-time high at 29% and is the first time that female representation in the House of Representatives stands at more than a quarter of the total membership.
Ivan Stewart Lloyd was a Jamaican medical practitioner and politician, representing the People's National Party (PNP). He served as Jamaica's first Leader of the Opposition from 1944 to 1949, minister of education and social welfare from 1955 to 1957, minister of home affairs from 1957 to 1959, and was minister of health between 1959 and 1962.
The 2020 People's National Party (PNP) leadership election was triggered after Peter Phillips announced his intention to resign as Leader of the People's National Party following the party's defeat at the 2020 general election. It was held on November 7, 2020. If Hanna was elected, she would have served as the second female President of a Jamaican political party and the second female Leader of the Opposition in Jamaican history. The election was won by Former Minister of Justice and Member of Parliament for St Andrew Southern and Attorney Mark Golding who secured 1,740 or 54.6% of the vote.
General elections are scheduled to be held in Jamaica by 2025.
