Opposition senators voted against the extension of the seven states of emergency (SOEs) across the island when the matter was brought before the Upper House of Parliament today (November 25), bringing an end to the measures effective next Tuesday (November 29).

The emergency measures were issued on November 15 and slated to last for two weeks, as allowed by law before an extension must be agreed by a two thirds majority of both Houses of Parliament.

St Catherine, St James, Clarendon, Westmoreland, Hanover and sections of Kingston and St Andrew were the seven parishes listed under the SOE measures.

Minister of National Security Dr Horace Chang had put forth a request in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (November 22) for the extension of the measures to January 14 next year, but the request was met by disapproval from Opposition members of parliament, with Opposition Leader Mark Golding long holding the position that lengthy SOEs were an untenable strategy in the fight against crime.

Opposition members of parliament refused to vote on the matter, reiterating that they did not support the Government’s use of SOEs to fight crime. The extension was however passed in the Lower House, where the Government holds more than a two-thirds majority of the vote.

The matter was then moved to the Senate today, where it faced another round of contentious debate.

But this time around, with the Government requiring at least one vote of approval from the Opposition benches in order to approve the extension, all eight Opposition senator gave it a thumbs down, signalling the end, in days, of the current SOEs.