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Voting ends in Jamaica election
Voting ended in Jamaica on Thursday as Prime Minister Andrew Holness sought a popular mandate to tackle the Caribbean country’s deepening economic woes in a closely contested general election.
On the eve of the voting, polls showed Jamaica’s two long dominant parties, the governing Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) and People’s National Party (PNP), running neck-and-neck in parliamentary elections focused on the island’s stagnant and debt-ridden economy.
Police and soldiers stood guard at polling stations across the country throughout the day. Jamaica has a history of election violence but the run-up to the vote was one of its most peaceful in years.
Holness, a 39-year-old former education minister, was hoping to keep the center-right JLP in power for a second consecutive term.
The country’s youngest-ever prime minister, he took office in October after the governing party suffered a blow when his predecessor surprisingly resigned.