PM Andrew Holness wins the rare third term

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness, 53, won a rare third term after his Labor Party came to victory in the elections on Monday.

The Caribbean Nation Electoral Commission said the Labor Party won 34 seats, beating the National Popular Opposition Party (PNP), which obtained 29 seats, according to preliminary figures.

PNP candidate Mark Golding conceded the defeat.

Holness campaigned on a promise to reduce the income tax rate from 25% to 15%, while Golding said it would increase the income tax threshold.

The holder was also credited by many voters for lowering the number of homicides in the country after the murder rate dropped in 25 years in the first quarter of 2025, according to official figures.

Although there have been criticisms of the measures used to cause decrease in crime – such as states of emergency declared in certain regions – the increased feeling of security seems to have helped to propel Holness to another term.

But the economy was at the center of the electoral campaign, the Labor Party pointing to the low unemployment rate of 3.3% as one of its achievements in office.

The main opposition party, the PNP, accused the government of wasting money, citing the high cost of used school buses it had bought.

He also raised questions about the integrity of Prime Minister Holness, citing a report that had questioned his declaration of income and assets.

Holness denied any reprehensible act and accused the PNP of having used the report as a “distraction” because, he said, the government’s file was such that it was not that the opposition could not criticize.

While the participation rate was low to 39.5%, an observer mission sent by the Organization of American States (OEA) congratulated Jamaican voters to be “calm and ordered with a feeling of civic maturity and pride”.

Holness thanked the voters for “this third historical term” and for their “confidence, your faith and your belief in the vision of a stronger, safer and more prosperous Jamaica”.