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05/06/08

Residents in fear after the elections.

 

                  Scores of residents in several sections of the corporate area

                  awoke on Tuesday morning to the sounds of heavy and sporadic

                  gunfire as tension across the island rose to boiling point

                  after the General Elections held on Monday, September 3.

                  Members of the island’s security forces who spoke to XtraNews

                  about the incidents said that the tensions were as a result of

                  unconfirmed reports swirling around about the results of the

                  elections. The Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ), following a

                  preliminary count of the general election results late Monday

                  into early Tuesday, placed the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) as

                  the winner by 32-28 seats.

 

                  Police, however, reported that several hours after the EOJ

                  announcement, a series of unconfirmed reports started

                  circulating that a recount of the results had revealed there

                  was either a further increase in the lead of the Jamaica

                  Labour Party or a jump in the PNP numbers.

 

                  At one point, the reports stated that the PNP numbers had

                  moved to 30 seats and at another time, there was a dip in the

                  number of seats won by the JLP.

 

                  Police told XtraNews that as the reports circulated, armed

                  thugs and party supporters from each side (JLP and PNP) took

                  to the streets firing indiscriminately in a number of

                  communities such as Maverley and sections of Waltham Park,

                  Maxfield Avenue, Wilton Gardens or Rema, Olympic Gardens and

                  Waterhouse, in premature celebrations, whenever the reports

                  went in their favour.

 

                  In the period, several residents from a number of the

                  communities were left cowering in fear for their lives and the

                  situation threatened to get out of hand.

 

                  The police were quickly dispersed into some of these areas and

                  officials from the EOJ were quick to point out that there was

                  no truth to the reports.

 

                  Eventually, the official word finally came from the EOJ that

                  the JLP had won 33 seats, to the PNP’s 27. However, some

                  losing candidates such as the PNP’s DK Duncan and Horace

                  Dalley said they would be contesting the results in court.

                  

                        Last Revised: 9/17/2007                            1 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

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