Follow-up: Simpson-Miller down and out

Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller admitted defeat in the country’s general elections that were held on Monday. As a recount of electoral ballots continues for a second consecutive day, Simpson-Miller rescinded from previous calls alleging voting regulates in her statement:

"The People's National Party (PNP) accepts the announced preliminary results, while reserving all legal rights under the Jamaican constitution and our electoral laws…The People's National Party, as part of its highest traditions, respects and will always respect the voice of the Jamaican people and their will, as expressed in the vote."

Preliminary results show the Jamaican Labour Party (JLP) with 32 of 60 seats in parliament, and final results are expected to be released tomorrow. An official victory for the JLP would give that party control of Jamaica for the first time since 1989.

So who is Bruce Golding- the apparent successor to Simpson-Miller? He is a career politician who has been interested in politics since his father was a member of Jamaica’s parliament. Yet according to Radio Netherlands Worldwide the ideological differences between him and Simpson-Miller are very few:

“The ideological differences between Mr. Golding's Jamaica Labour Party and the People's National Party of outgoing Prime Minister Portia Miller Simpson are not that far apart. They are both in the centre of the political spectrum.

Many of Jamaica's citizens live in abject poverty, which is why more than a million people have emigrated in recent decades - mostly to Great Britain and the United States. Both parties say they want to do something about rampant crime levels, poor education and inadequate health care.”

Sources- AFP, The Latin Americanist, Voice of America, BBC News, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Jamaica Gleaner

Image- Radio Netherlands Worldwide