#PNPvotes | Polls Closed, Now To The Ballot Count

By: Admin

Image caption:

Erica Virtue, Senior Gleaner Writer

The polls have now closed all 12 polling centres across the island in the contest to elect the new president of the Peoples National Party (PNP).

Much of the attention has been placed on activities at The Mico University College where the largest swathe of more than 3,300 delegates voted today.

Just over 1,000 people were slated to cast ballots at the polling station located at the Eli Matalon Gymnasium on the college campus.

Delegates and supporters alike gathered in large numbers but it was unmistakable that mist were wearing Go with Golding shirts, but while the Hanna supporters were most vocal.

PNP General Secretary Julian Robinson in his final leadership campaign duties, said, both candidates — Mark Golding and Lisa Hanna — were satisfied with the preparations for the elections.

"There was communication every step through the process with the two candidates. All issues, were ironed out and the both expressed satisfaction with the preparations for the day's elections," Robinson told The Gleaner.

The general secretary would later assist elderly delegates to vote, among them O.D Ramtallie, who is about 98 years old.

The very frail former housing minister said he has voted in every leadership elections since 1992.

Others delegates expressed frustration with the registration process, saying there were too many layers.

Delegates were registered in their respective camps by their constituency and then taken to Mico to vote. 

At Mico they were formally registered at the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) registration desks.

After clearance was given, they were shown to the gymnasium to vote.

The EOJ ran the elections.

Golding who was scheduled to vote at 11:30 arrived early with accompanied by supporters, his wife Sandra and two of his children.

He said uniting the party will be the first order of business and the jobs begins right after the elections were completed.

It was a similar sentiment for Hanna who took a blistering pace, in the early afternoon raindrops, from the Wolmer's Boys' School auditorium to Mico.

If she wins, she said her first call would be to Golding.

A supporter wearing a Golding shirt was taken to a ambulance before midday, even as a PNP supporter used an umbrella to block reporters from taking pictures of the incident.

In an identical repeat to last year's leadership race, minutes before the polls closed, the rains began to pummel.  

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