#PortlandEasternVotes: Vaz defeats Crawford
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Preliminary results indicate that the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Ann-Marie Vaz has won the Portland Eastern by-election, beating the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) candidate Damion Crawford.
Vaz amassed a total of 9,917 votes (51 per cent) over Crawford’s 9,611. All 127 boxes have been counted.
The Electoral Office of Jamaica says voter turn-out was 53.7 per cent of the 36,315 registered electors in the constituency.
Vaz’s victory represents a major upset for the PNP, which has held the constituency for the past 30 years. She also creates history as the first female Member of Parliament to serve that constituency.
She will join her husband, Daryl, who represents the neighbouring Portland Western constituency, in Gordon House.
The Portland Eastern seat became vacant after incumbent Member of Parliament Dr Lynvale Bloomfield was murdered in February.
