Headlines:
| JLP snags South East St. Mary seat by a hair |
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| Friday, 28 September 2007 | |
Following weeks of uncertainty and legal wranglings, the
Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Tarn Peralto has been declared the winner of the
South East St. Mary seat.Mr. Peralto was declared the winner Friday afternoon following the counting of the two misplaced boxes at the Electoral Office of Jamaica. It is all over. Friday's count of the two boxes containing the police and Election Day workers' votes signal the end of a fierce battle for the South East St. Mary seat. After Friday's count at the EOJ office the PNP's Harry Douglas walked away with 145 of the votes from the two boxes while the JLP's Tarn Peralto received 123 of the votes. However with Mr. Peralto's 37 vote lead, he walked away the victor. This means that he won by a slim margin of 15 votes. For Mr. Douglas this defeat symbolizes not only the end of a fierce battle but also the end of a political career. "I have done my stint on the public stage from politics, but I am going to work assiduously for the PNP. We just have to unite and go back to the basics of the People's National Party and move forward," said Mr. Douglas. He added that he was satisfied with the process and has accepted defeat. "The two boxes have been counted and I have lost by 15 and I am extremely proud that the people of South East St. Mary voted and their ballots were able to be counted. I am satisfied that they were intact, the ballots were counted and we lost," he continued. |