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.
Sir William Alexander Clarke Bustamante was a Jamaican politician and labour leader,who,in 1962,became the first prime minister of Jamaica.
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.
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.
Oswald Gaskell Harding is a Jamaican former Labour Party politician,and the longest-serving senator in the nation's history. He was born in Kingston. Harding was the first person to serve as President of the Senate of Jamaica for two non-consecutive tenures,serving from 1980 to 1984 and from 2007 to 2011. First appointed to the Senate in 1977,he served in the body continuously until 2002,and rejoined the Senate from 2007 until his retirement from politics in 2011. His first period as a senator was the longest continuous tenure in the body's history.
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.
Dennis Meadows served as Government Senator in the Upper House of the Parliament of Jamaica. He also served as the senate whip. Meadows is now co-covenor of the civil lobby group Citizens' Action for Principles and Integrity (CAPI) concerned with issues of human rights,public governance,integrity and accountability. He is also a justice of the peace and lay magistrate for the island of Jamaica.
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.
General elections were held in Jamaica on 25 February 2016. The elections were largely a contest between the governing People's National Party (PNP) and the opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). The result was a narrow victory for the JLP,which won 32 of the 63 seats. One political commentator described the poll as "the closest election Jamaica has ever had".
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.
Norman Washington Manley was a Jamaican statesman who served as the first and only Premier of Jamaica. A Rhodes Scholar,Manley became one of Jamaica's leading lawyers in the 1920s. Manley was an advocate of universal suffrage,which was granted by the British colonial government to the colony in 1944.
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.
The Jamaican political conflict is a long-standing feud between right-wing and left-wing elements in the country,often exploding into violence. The Jamaican Labour Party (JLP) and the People's National Party (PNP) have fought for control of the island for years and the rivalry has encouraged urban warfare in Kingston. Each side believes the other to be controlled by foreign elements;the JLP is said to be backed by the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the PNP is said to have been backed by the Soviet Union and Cuba.
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.
A parliamentary by-election occurs in Jamaica following a vacancy arising in the Parliament of Jamaica. They are often seen as a test of the rival political parties' fortunes between general elections.
