The military was called to Lakes Pen in St. Catherine on Monday morning following tension between People’s National Party (PNP) and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters over the presence of orange flags in front of a polling station for Monday’s by-election in the Greater Portmore North Division.
The polling station is at the Lakes Pen Basic school.
The situation led to Political Ombudsman Donna Parchment Brown and the police being called in. However, the problem was defused shortly after and the proceedings continued without further interruption.
Candidates vote
In the meantime, JLP candidate Ann Marie Lewis voted at the Ascot Primary School shortly after 11:00 a.m.
The PNP candidate Gary Nicholson does not have a vote as he does not reside in the division.
Several ‘bigwigs’ from both political parties were on hand at the various polling stations to give support.
Director of Elections Orrette Fisher said the results should be in by 7:00 p.m. Monday.
Voter turnout
The Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) has reported that there was a 14.66 per cent voter turnout between 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. for the Greater Portmore North by-election.
The EOJ said of the 10,677 registered voters, 1,565 ballots were cast across 38 polling stations in seven voting locations in the division.
The polls will close at 5:00 p.m.
Frigging clowns! These antics and striff ole and tired.
Ghetto people, any day them have to pay light water and mortgage simple things like a damned coloured flag in front of a polling station would be the least of them problem………
LAAAARD AV MERCY what the heck Election again, war ova flag color, where are the people who say them tings no happen again