Robertson wins seat by 457 votes

A handful of JLP supporters gathered outside the headquarters of the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) in downtown Kingston last night to celebrate the win of the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) James Robertson, who retained his position as member of parliament for St Thomas Western.

In the official recount, he gained 457 more votes than the People's National Party's (PNP) Marsha Francis.

Director of Elections, Orrette Fisher, confirmed that James' lead increased since the preliminary count, but declined to state the actual number of votes each candidate obtained.

"I can't give you the exact numbers because they were just cross checking to make sure that everything is finalised, and I am not going to be giving any figures that I will later have to change. I will provide the complete figures for the entire island some time tomorrow (today)," he said.

Meanwhile, the JLP's lawyer, Senator Tom Tavares- Finson, who was present during the official recount, said he was pleased with the results, and noted that the counting process was 'smooth'.

Robertson, who has been member of parliament for the constituency since 2002, was present at the EOJ office, but he did not immediately appear to give a comment to THE STAR.

Recount in that constituency had been a source of major unease, after tension outside the EOJ's St Thomas Western office caused electoral officials to halt the process and relocate the ballot counting to their head office at Duke Street, Kingston.