Tempers flared among voters in St Andrew East Rural on Wednesday as supporters of both the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and People’s National Party (PNP) accused the police of extending preferential treatment to either side at polling stations.

The problem surfaced when police tried to bring order to the voting process at polling stations in Kintyre and Grove.

“Dem nah let in the Labourites to vote,” one woman said, fuming.

“The police dem a work with the PNP. From I have been here since morning, the place has been full. I went home to go eat and came back and the place still full. I came out here because I want a better country and a Andrew Holness we want to win. He is the better one to run the country,” she added.

However, her accusations were countered by a PNP supporter who said, “If you go and watch for yourself you will see that it’s only Labourites being let inside to vote”.

One woman, who was peeved by the pushing and shoving outside the Kintyre polling station, said there needed to be more order.

“They are letting in who they want to let in and there is no line. It’s just chaos from morning and it’s now 3:00 pm. People are getting frustrated and some can’t wait,” she said.

“People have been even pushing down the elders. Normally, elderly and the disabled go in first. It is not running smoothly, and if you look inside, in there is empty. The people are not getting to vote because there is no order,” she said.

Another woman claimed that she was at the Kintyre polling station from very early in the afternoon and had worked her way through a thick crowd, almost to the polling booth, when she was sent back by a cop.

“I was at the front and the policeman sent me to the back. I am out here from 1:00 pm and now it is 3:00 pm. The policeman said I must move or he will move me. I just moved because I would have to fight him back. My tax money is paying him and he should remember that. I think they have something against the PNP,” she said.

PNP candidate Patrick Peterkin was very worried when he spoke to the Observer. He complained that operations at some polling stations were not satisfactory. At the same time, he was optimistic that he would come out victorious over incumbent, the JLP’s Juliet Holness.

“I feel like the voters are very frustrated because this station at Grove in Gordon Town is moving very, very slow. It is a concern. I noticed long lines and people getting frustrated,” he said

“We basically had to ask the voters to hold strain and ensure they exercise their right. Because of the rain, plus the slowness, not everybody will stay. I am optimistic though, because people have been waiting in the rain,” Peterkin said.

The Observer visited numerous other polling stations throughout the constituency. For the most part, operations were slow but voters went in and out of the polling stations with ease.

At Weise Road in Bull Bay, one elderly supporter of the JLP said he was certain that Holness would be re-elected Member of Parliament for another five years.

“My name is Michael Barnes from Nine Miles, Bull Bay. I am 70 years old and kicking. The only time the Labour Party win this seat was when Joan Gordon-Webley was for the JLP. A pure PNP run bout yah [and] dem leave it in squalor for decades. Now we a try fi fix it, dem nuh like the progress,” he said.

This elderly woman was spotted at a polling station in St Andrew East Rural on Wednesday.

Eager voters pack a stairway at Grove polling station on Gordon Town Road in St Andrew East Rural.