Holness, Munroe said, can now do what he was prevented from doing with only the one-seat slim majority that came out of the JLP’s 2016 win. Holness’ former university professor and political expert, Trevor Munroe, described the victory as “a tsunami” and compared it to the PNP’s 1980 defeat at the hands of late JLP leader and Prime Minister Edward Seaga. “I’m keenly interested in the future of Jamaican politics and to see where it goes from here because this election is exciting, is historic and I think it gives us a lot to chew on in the future,” Wickham told CEEN TV. Peter Wickham, a well-known Caribbean pollster who had the JLP leading into the election, called the vote historic. He said his mandate will promote clear policies while ushering Jamaica into an era of stability and growth. “I do want to ensure all of you that I do carry this burden with great consideration of not just those who elected us, but those who are looking on us for future decisions as to whether or not they will participate in the process,” Holness, 48, said. Recognizing that many of the 1.9 million registered voters did not vote - the electoral commission estimated the overall voter turnout to be about 37%, the lowest in the country’s history, compared to 48% in the 2016 general election - Holness pledged that “it must never be that the government that emerges from this victory take the people for granted.”

“You came out in your hundreds of thousands, and you participated in this solemn process of democracy you voted, you expressed yourself through the ballot.” Jamaica time Thursday while wearing a mask to remind the Caribbean nation of nearly 3 million that it remains in the midst of a deadly pandemic. “Tonight, the victor is the people of Jamaica,” Holness said in his election night victory speech shortly before 10 p.m. Despite the economic slump brought on by the deadly virus, which has spiked in recent weeks, voters rewarded the government for its management.

Thursday’s elections, called six months ahead of schedule and when Jamaica’s COVID-19 infections were still low, was all about Holness and the JLP.

Jamaica prime minister picture