KINGSTON, Jamaica — The post-2020 general election session of the Houses of Parliament is expected to start tomorrow at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

Members have been informed that the opening of the new session has been shifted to the conference centre because the set up of Gordon House would not be able to facilitate the observance of the COVID-19 protocols for members as well as visitors.                                                                     

Tomorrow’s sitting marks the beginning of the new term of office for the newly elected Andrew Holness-led administration.

The ceremony is expected to start at 11:00 am inside the Kenneth Rattray Room (conference room one) at the JCC, located at the bottom of Port Royal Street.

Members of both the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the opposition People’s National Party (PNP) who won their seats in the September 3 election, and members of the new Senate, will be sworn-in during the ceremony.

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, is in charge of the preparations at the JCC as a Leader of the House has not yet been named.

The JLP has so far won 48 seats to 15 for the PNP, and Prime Minister Holness has already named his cabinet and junior ministers. However, magisterial recounts are taking place in four seats — three won by the PNP and one by the JLP — which could change the current figures.

Balford Henry