JAMAICA: Prime Minister Andrew Holness and opposition leader Portia Simpson Miller take to the streets to campaign as general election draws closer

Record ID: 346437

  • Title: JAMAICA: Prime Minister Andrew Holness and opposition leader Portia Simpson Miller take to the streets to campaign as general election draws closer
  • Date: 27th December 2011
  • Summary: AUDIENCE AT RALLY
  • Embargoed: 11th January 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Jamaica, Jamaica
  • Country: Jamaica
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6OY0Q76W8VBZQ33YHSGYG6SSF
  • Story Text: Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who took office less than two months ago, campaigned on Christmas Eve, as the Caribbean island nation prepared to hold general elections on Thursday (December 29).
    Holness, was just sworn in on October 23, when former Prime Minister Bruce Golding stepped down as premier of the heavily indebted country.
    Holness spoke in the parish of St. Catherine before a crowd of supporters of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
    "I'm feeling the energy coming from the Labourites here tonight. With this kind of good feeling, with this kind of energy rolling into election day, Labourites, we must win this election," Holness said.
    Holness, age 39, and Jamaica's youngest prime minister ever, was appointed by JLP lawmakers to succeed Golding when he decided to step down after four years in office amid mounting criticism over economic issues, and his handling of a politically charged U.S. request for the extradition of a notorious Jamaican gang leader.
    Meanwhile in the parish of Hanover, the opposition's People's National Party leader Portia Simpson Miller greeted supporters.
    Miller who served briefly as Jamaica's first female prime minister from March 2006 to September 2007 later told a large crowd at a rally that she was surprised by their numbers.
    "At this time I was not expecting to come here and to find this crowd," Miller said.
    Buffeted by the global economic crisis, Jamaica turned to the International Monetary Fund in 2010 for an $1.27 billion economic lifeline. Future economic growth faces many challenges including endemic crime and corruption, and widespread unemployment and underemployment.
    Holness, who served as education minister before his appointment as premier, was required by the Jamaican Constitution to hold elections in 2012 and he could now become the shortest serving leader in the nation's history.
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