KINGSTON, Jamaica — Six-term Member of Parliament (MP) Delroy Chuck is urging supporters of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) to come out in overwhelming numbers on election day, to surpass the record landslide victory the party achieved in 1980.

Chuck was addressing a large crowd of JLP supporters in Kintrye Sunday night, during the St Andrew East Rural constituency conference for the sitting Member of Parliament (MP), Juliet Holness.

The speaker of the House of Representatives and two-term Member of Parliament (MP), is looking to keep the swing constituency in the JLP win column.

She is being challenged by the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Patrick Peterkin, an attorney-at-law.

In his brief address, Chuck acknowledged the large crowd Sunday night but told party supporters that “the most important thing is to get the vote out on election day”.

Continuing, he said, “Labourites, the only party that has ever had 500,000 voters [in a general election] was Edward Seaga, our prime minister/mentor, who got 500,000 votes in 1980.”

“This time we going to beat the 500,000 and get to 600,000 because [Prime Minister] Andrew Michael Holness and his team have worked too hard not to get 600,000 votes.”

Chuck, who’s looking to beat back the challenge of the PNP’s Stacey Knight in his St Andrew North Eastern constituency which he has held since 1997, told supporters that, “You’re going to go out there and work all the corners, all the byways, all the houses and bring out the labourites, bring out the undecided because we want to give this prime minister the biggest margin of victory ever in Jamaica.”

Chuck, who is also the justice minister, said his margin of victory in his constituency is normally 3,000 but this time around he will win by 5,000 or 6,000 votes.

With the sharp decline in voter participation over the last four election cycles, only time will tell if the JLP will be able to get more than 600,000 Jamaicans to vote on election day, and if Chuck will win by a 6,000-vote margin.

The hard-fought and bloody general election of 1980 stands out for many reasons including its record voter turnout of 86.91 per cent. Of the 990,417 electors on the voters list, 860,746 cast a ballot. Of those who exercised their franchise, 502,115 voted for the JLP and 350,064 voted for the PNP. The JLP won 51 seats to the PNP’s nine.

By contrast, the 2020 general election had a record low voter turnout of just 37.85 per cent. Of the 1.9 million electors on the voters list, 408,376 voted JLP while 305,950 supported the PNP. The JLP won 49 seats to the PNP’s 14.

In 1993 and 1997, when the PNP was victorious, voter turnout was 60.28 per cent and 65.22 per cent, respectively. The PNP won 52 seats to the JLP’s eight in 1993 and secured 50 seats to the JLP’s 10 in 1997.

— Lynford Simpson