As the Jamaican electorate heads to the polls to cast their ballots today, February 26, in the long-awaited local government elections, it is projected to be a close battle but the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is expected to secure wins in the majority of municipalities.

The JLP won the last local government election held in 2016, with the governing party securing wins in nine of the 13 municipal corporations while the Opposition People’s National Party secured three.

The JLP captured majority control of Kingston and St Andrew (KSAC), Portland, St Mary, St. Ann, Trelawny, St James, St Elizabeth, Clarendon, and St Catherine municipal corporations. In contrast, the PNP won the parishes of Hanover, Westmoreland and Manchester.

There was a tie in St Thomas, with both parties taking five divisions.

Political analyst Kevin O’Brien Chang says while it may be a tricky election with the advent of social media, he is projecting that the result will be similar to 2016.

“My gut feeling is that probably we might see a similar result to last time, with the JLP 9 to 3. Maybe they might win one or two more based on the polls, the ball is round, upsets have happened before, it wouldn’t shock me if the PNP has won the popular votes on most seats, I would say it is the JLP election to lose really. Everything seems to favour them, they have the money, they have the popular leader so probably something similar to last time or a little more seats for the JLP,” he said.

“It is not a normal election, 2020 the polls were very clear, you have the Don Anderson polls having the JLP by 1 point and the Bluedot has JLP by 4 points so they are fairly close in the polls, again social media suggests the JLP should win big, so it will be very curious to see how reality reflects what we are seeing and I am cautious because it is the first social media election and it is a test case to see how social media reflects reality,” he added.

The latest Nationwide/Bluedot polls project that the JLP has a four percentage point lead over the PNP.

After much delays, Jamaicans are heading to the polls to cast their ballots in the long-awaited local government election. The election was initially due in 2020, however, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was further postponed in 2022 and February 2023.

A recent Don Anderson poll is projecting an increase in voter turnout of 37 per cent for this local government election when compared to 2016. A total of 2,001,759 Jamaicans are eligible to vote in today’s election.

Some 499 candidates will be contesting the elections in 298 divisions, plus the direct election of the Portmore mayoral position.

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. and are expected to close at 5 p.m.