Jamaica: Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller may call an election despite plunging poll numbers

There is heightened speculation in Jamaica about whether Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller and her ruling People’s National Party (PNP) will call for general elections this later year.

Under the Jamaican Constitution, only the prime minister can decide the date of an election.

Simpson-Miller still has another 18 months during which she can call the election, which is constitutionally due between December 29, 2016 and April 16, 2017.

Latest poll numbers indicate that the Simpson-Miller administration and the PNP is in trouble:
– 57 percent of Jamaican voters feel that the country is heading in the wrong direction, and that Simpson-Miller – once the most popular politician in the country – should not return as prime minister;
– 30 percent believe that the Simpson-Miller administration is on the right track and would vote for the PNP; while 13 percent of those polled declined to offer an opinion.

Jamaica’s Finance Minister Peter Phillips has hinted that the Simpson-Miller administration is forging ahead with plans for an early election despite unfavorable and plunging poll numbers.

Orrette Fisher, the executive Director of the Electoral Office of Jamaica has revealed that the electoral institution is in a position to successfully run an election – should Simpson-Miller decide to call one.