WITH five divisions left to be counted at the close of counting yesterday, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) was holding six of the island’s municipal corporations with the People’s National Party (PNP) holding four.

Still to be completed was the official count of ballots in St James, Westmoreland, Kingston and St Andrew, and the Portmore Municipal Corporation.

According to a late evening release from the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ), the JLP had retained control of the municipal corporations in St Thomas (6-4), Portland (7-2), St Ann (11-5), St Elizabeth (9-6), Clarendon (12-10) and Trelawny (6-3).

The PNP retained Hanover (7-0); Manchester (12-3) and St Catherine (22-9). The Mark Golding led-PNP also flipped the St Mary Municipal Corporation winning 7-6.

The municipal corporations outstanding Thursday evening were St James, which the JLP is projected to win; Westmoreland, which is projected to go to the PNP; the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC), which is projected to end with a 20-20 tie and the PNP selecting the mayor based on the greater number of votes, and the JLP choosing the deputy mayor; and Portmore, which the PNP is projected to win.

The EOJ also reported that of the 223 divisions counted, the PNP had won 113. This is 15 more than the party held going into Monday’s local government elections.

The JLP reportedly won 110 divisions, 20 fewer than it entered the election with.

In terms of the votes, with the official count to be done in five divisions, the PNP had 312,862, which is 23,845 more than the JLP captured.

Following the preliminary count on Monday, both JLP Leader and Prime Minister Andrew Holness and PNP President and Opposition Leader Mark Golding claimed victory.

“If we look at what existed before, the PNP retained Westmoreland, Hanover, Manchester, and St Catherine. The Jamaica Labour Party retained all that it had — Trelawny, St Mary, St Ann, St James, St Elizabeth, St Thomas, Portland,” said Holness in a late night media briefing at the JLP’s Belmont Road headquarters Monday.

Following the presentation by Holness the official count gave Clarendon to the JLP and St Mary to the PNP.

Earlier, in a more party-type atmosphere at the party’s Old Hope Road headquarters, Golding had told supporters that the PNP had pulled off a rare victory.

“We can go forward with confidence that we have pulled off a great victory here today. The people have spoken. The PNP is alive and well,” Golding said.

“I thank the most high God for this victory. We have won the popular vote in Jamaica. We have won many more divisions than we had before, we have won the KSAMC with a large margin. I felt the inspiration right through the day. Overall, the PNP has definitely won this parish council,” added Golding.

With victory in seven of the 13 municipal corporations, the JLP will continue to claim victory despite the massive drop in the number of divisions it won compared to 2016 when Jamaicans last voted in local government elections.

At the same time, with one additional corporation than it won in 2016, plus taking control of the big prize, the KSAMC, while retaining the Portmore Municipal Corporation and the directly elected Mayor of Portmore, the PNP will also continue to claim victory.