LINSTEAD: Graham jubilant after final count of ballots – his lead extended
September 6, 2020The official counting of ballots was completed this afternoon at Linstead Courthouse in St. Catherine North West, where Hugh Graham of the People’s National Party (PNP) has been declared the winner.
His challengers were Newton Amos of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and independent candidate Gene Guthrie.
These are the official results:
Rejected Ballots – 139
Newton Amos – 5,193 votes
Hugh Graham – 5,346 votes
Gene Guthrie – 25 votes
That means Graham’s margin of victory over Amos has increased to 153. At the end of preliminary counting on election day, the lead for Graham was 22.
“The confirmation [of my win] is without a doubt now,” Graham told The Beacon shortly after the official count.
He added: “The [PNP] camp is jubilant because everybody now feels that it (the victory) is beyond the shadow of a doubt and believe that it is where it should have been. There is real excitement.”
Graham admitted that he, since the September 3 election, was concerned about the narrow margin that initially existed.
“I wouldn’t say nervous; I would say I was concerned with the margin being what it [initially] was. People were concerned about the drawn out things – magisterial recount and all those possibilities,” he added.
The JLP currently holds 48 seats while the PNP won the remaining 15 – including Westmoreland East, which the PNP picked up only in the official count.
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