THE People’s National Party’s (PNP) Lisa Hanna was yesterday “thanking God and her constituents” as she held on to the St Ann South Eastern constituency after the judicial (magisterial) recount.

Final results from the recount, which ended yesterday at the St Ann’s Bay courthouse, gave Hanna, a former Cabinet minister who has held the seat since 2007, the win by a mere 31 votes, one less than the results of the final count, scoring 5,150 to her competitor, the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Delroy Granston’s 5,119.

“Now that the magisterial recount is over we are ready to move forward,” a release from the PNP quoted Hanna, a former cabinet, as saying.

The PNP has never lost a contested election in St Ann South Eastern since it was created in 1959. Dr Ivan Lloyd, who won it in 1959, resigned unbeaten over nine election and was replaced by Seymour Mullings who won between 1972 and 2002, when he was replaced by Aloun Ndombet-Assamba, an attorney who also served in the Cabinet as minister of tourism, entertainment, and culture.

However, Assamba served only one term and when she pulled out in 2007 Hanna, a former Miss World, was recruited as the party’s candidate.

Hanna has represented the constituency since and scoring sizeable victory totals of between 7,000 and 8,000 votes since. However, on this occasion against Granston, who was selected five days prior to Nomination Day to replace the JLP’s original choice, Dr Ryan Simpson, who was replaced for breaching the COVID-19 pandemic protocols, the preliminary count showed a winning margin of 14 votes, while the final count administered by the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) gave her victory by 32 votes.

Granston picked up a single vote yesterday, which reduced the lead to 31, but Hanna had enough to hold on to that lead.

In yesterday’s release, Hanna was quoted as saying that “the people of SESA have been clear in their message, that notwithstanding the constituency projects and infrastructure improvements made over the last four years, they need more”.

“This year has been particularly challenging for us as people’s lives and livelihoods have been adversely affected and their immediate needs and concerns are central to their physical survival,“ she noted.

She said that she remains committed to delivering better service for the people of the constituency, and urged her supporters to begin the hard work of listening to the people, and rebuilding with renewed purpose.

“The work continues. The people have delivered a message and we must listen. Jamaicans are facing unprecedented times, and as I have said already, we absolutely have to ‘lick a new gear and meet this moment’.” she added.

— Balford Henry