7 hrs ago
The entrance to a polling station during the morning session of voting in the North East St Ann by-election on Monday.
The Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) has confirmed that the by-election in North East St Ann got off to a sluggish start, with a mere 5.12 per cent of registered voters casting their ballots by 11am on Monday.
Director of Elections, Glasspole Brown, told reporters that the figure is a significant drop compared to the similar period for the 2020 General Elections in the constituency.
Brown remained optimistic, however, in anticipation of an uptick in voter participation during the afternoon session of voting.
A total of 43,827 registered voters are eligible to cast ballots in the by-election.
Three candidates are vying to become the next Member of Parliament (MP) for North East St Ann, with the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) not fielding a candidate.
The candidates are the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Matthew Samuda, educator Chase Neil of the United Independents' Congress (UIC), and businessman David 'Five Pound' Anderson, who is a former People's National Party (PNP) member.
Both Samuda and Anderson have expressed confidence about their respective chances of being victorious at the end of the counting of the ballots.
Voting is currently under way at 146 polling stations across 27 locations.
Polling stations opened at 7am and are to close at 5pm, with preliminary counting set to begin shortly after.
The constituency recorded a 34 per cent voter turnout in the 2020 General Elections, with the JLP's Marsha Smith securing 65 per cent of the votes, or 9,059 votes.
The PNP's Keith Brown only managed to garner 35 per cent of the votes.
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