The People’s National Party (PNP) had Members of Parliament in only seven of the 14 parishes during the last five years, after suffering a landslide defeat at the hands of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in the September 3, 2020 General Election.

In that poll the PNP lost 0-5 in St James, 0-4 in St Elizabeth, 0-3 in Westmoreland, 0-2 in Trelawny, 0-2 in Portland, 0-2 in St Thomas, and 0-2 in Hanover.

In last Wednesday’s general election, held exactly five years to the date of the 2020 poll, the PNP came roaring back, falling just three seats short of gaining a majority in the House of Representatives, while securing wins in all but one parish — Trelawny.

At the end of the preliminary count, the JLP had won 34 seats to the PNP’s 29. Of significance is that the PNP has shut the JLP out of two parishes this time around — Hanover and Westmoreland.

As was expected, the PNP won easily in Westmoreland where it has perhaps its strongest support base among all parishes. The 2020 defeats were a shocker of monumental proportions.

In Wednesday’s poll, PNP General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell, who was defeated in St Ann North Western in 2020, a seat he held for two terms, contested Westmoreland Eastern, the seat of former Prime Minister PJ Patterson. Campbell polled 7,558 votes easily defeating the JLP’s Daniel Lawrence who received 5,624 votes.

Lawrence, in the 2020 election, had ousted the PNP’s Luther Buchanan.

In Westmoreland Western, the PNP’s Ian Hayles, who moved from Hanover Western where he was beaten in 2020, brushed aside the challenge of the JLP’s Dr Garfield James. Hayles polled 7,992 votes to the 6,024 received by James.

The JLP faced challenges in the seat as it was forced to replace its winning candidate from 2020, Morland Wilson, with James, a former member of the PNP who did not receive the backing of some JLP supporters.

In Westmoreland Central, Dwayne Vaz, who was beaten in 2020 by the controversial George Wright, exacted his revenge on Wright.

Wright, who was forced to resign from the JLP under controversial circumstances in 2021, only returned to the folds of the party in February this year. On Wednesday, he received 8,385 votes while Vaz secured 9,916 votes.

In Hanover, attorney-at-law Tameka Davis, who won the Hanover Western seat for the JLP in 2020 when she defeated Hayles, only lasted one term. She was beaten on Wednesday by fellow attorney Heatha Miller-Bennett, who polled 6,995 votes to Davis’s 5,907.

In Hanover Eastern, the JLP’s Dave Brown, who was seeking a third term, was sent packing by Andrea Purkiss. Brown got 5,138 votes while Purkiss received 5,905. The wins mark the first time Jamaica’s smallest parish will be represented by two women in the Parliament.

The writing was on the wall for the JLP in Hanover since the February 2024 Local Government Elections when it lost all seven parish council divisions in the parish.

Meanwhile, the PNP regained a foothold in Portland Eastern when political neophyte and controversial attorney Isat Buchanan subjected Ann-Marie ‘Action Ann’ Vaz to a shock defeat which is still being talked about days after the election.

Portland Eastern has long been considered a strong PNP seat that was held by the party for 30 years from 1989 until 2019 when the then MP, Dr Lynvalle Bloomfield was murdered in his home. A subsequent by-election was won by Vaz and she followed up with victory in 2020.

Regarded as one of the hardest-working MPs in either party, Vaz was expected to win the seat but she came up just short on the night, polling 8,181 votes to the 8,316 secured by Buchanan. Her husband Daryl kept the Portland Western seat, which he has held since 2007, in the JLP’s win column.

In St Thomas Eastern, Dr Michelle Charles only lasted one term for the JLP. It has been said that she did not endear herself to some constituents who saw her as being aloof. She was beaten by former mayor of Morant Bay Yvonne Rosemarie Shaw. Charles received 6,937 votes, Shaw got 7,356.

For his part, James Robertson held the St Thomas Western seat for the JLP. He has been MP since 2002.

In St James, the PNP’s Nekeisha Burchell, a communications specialist, won the St James Southern seat, a traditional PNP constituency that fell to the JLP’s Homer Davis in 2020. Davis was unable to mount a successful defence, polling 6,276 votes to Burchell’s 6,483 in a close contest.

JLP stalwarts Dr Horace Chang and Edmund Bartlett prevailed in St James North Western and St James East Central, respectively, while Heroy Clarke in St James Central and Marlene Malahoo Forte in St James West Central retained their seats.

In St Elizabeth, the PNP had relentlessly targeted the two swing seats — St Elizabeth South Eastern and St Elizabeth South Western. However, Floyd Green in the west and Franklin Witter in the east easily beat back challenges from Miranda Wellington and Norman Scott, respectively.

Wellington polled 8,462 votes to Green’s 9,705 while Witter received 9,318 votes to Scott’s 7,569.

St Elizabeth North Western was won for the JLP by newcomer Andrew Morris following the retirement of the veteran JC Hutchinson. He polled 5,555 votes, the PNP’s Patrica Scarlett-Forrester received 3,831 votes.

As was expected, the PNP, through Zuleika Jess, was able to put its stronghold of St Elizabeth North Eastern back in its win column. She polled 8,331 to oust the JLP’s Delroy Slowley who received 7,735 votes.

In Trelawny where the PNP made a valiant attempt to retake its usually reliable Trelawny Northern seat, its efforts fell short. Having surprised when she won in 2020, the JLP’s Tova Hamilton retained her seat. This time around, she kept PNP veteran Dr Wykeham McNeill at bay.

Having lost in Westmoreland Western in 2020, McNeill, a former tourism minister, was persuaded late in the day to try his luck in Trelawny Northern. At the end of the preliminary count he had polled 7,820 votes to the 8,159 secured by Hamilton.

In Trelawny Southern where funeral home director Paul Patmore was looking to create an upset for the PNP, his efforts came up short as he was defeated by Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert, meaning the PNP was shut out of the parish.

The former House Speaker, who resigned in 2023 amid mounting pressure in relation to eight charges laid against her by the Integrity Commission, returned via a by-election which she won in 2024. On Wednesday, she received 6,832 to Patmore’s 5,215.

The PNP regained six of the 12 seats it lost in western Jamaica in 2020 — all three in Westmoreland, both Hanover seats and one in St James.