EOJ rejects ballot box rumours

The Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) has firmly rejected social media claims suggesting ballot boxes were tampered with or dumped following last Wednesday's historic general election.

The office warned that such posts, often accompanied by graphic images and false attributions, are misleading and undermine the democratic process.

In a statement yesterday, the EOJ addressed rumours alleging missing or uncounted ballot boxes, as well as wildly inaccurate reports of spoiled ballots in one constituency.

"The preliminary counting of ballots took place in the presence of indoor agents representing at least two candidates/political parties and in some cases in the presence of election observers," the EOJ said.

In addition, it said that the ballot boxes were transported from polling stations to counting station under tight security. These ballot boxes, the EOJ said, were accompanied by the indoor agents and escorted by the police to the counting centres.

"All 7,294 general election ballot boxes and all 109 local government by-election ballot boxes have been accounted for," the EOJ said.

The election body said that sharing erroneous information on social media only serves to erode public confidence in the electoral system.

Following the final count of ballots in St Mary South East, the Party's (PNP) Christopher Brown was confirmed as winner. Brown polled 6,659 to the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Dr Norman Dunn 6,640, for a winning margin of 19 votes. The preliminary count had Brown beating Dunn by 11 votes.

The Prime Minister Andrew Holness-led JLP has claimed 35 seats to the Mark Golding-led PNP's 28 seats in the 63-seat House of Representatives.

The JLP's Donovan Williams won Kingston Central by 79 votes following the official count of ballots on Saturday. The PNP's Steve McGregor appeared to have won the seat by 12 votes following the preliminary count on Wednesday.