Hanna retains seat by 31 votes

Lisa Hanna retained the St Ann South Eastern seat for the People’s National Party (PNP) at the end of the judicial recount at the St Ann’s Bay Courthouse on Wednesday.

Hanna eventually won by a margin of 31 as she secured 5,150 votes to the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Delroy Granston.

The ruling JLP had sought the recount following Hanna’s 14-vote victory in the preliminary count, a shock margin for a seat that was considered a PNP stronghold. The official count after election day had bumped up Hanna’s margin to 32.

Hanna’s attorney, Jordan Whittingham, while having kind words for Granston, hailed the outcome as inevitable.

“We all had the opportunity to go through the ballots in great detail in the final count, along with the returning officer,” said Whittingham.

“We knew what was in the ballot boxes, we knew what was coming, so the outcome is really no surprise.”

Granston accepted the results with mixed feelings.

“I know the constituents are very saddened by the fact that they will continue to be misrepresented and also not represented well in that constituency,” he told The Gleaner.

“I think there is a lot of work to be done in South Eastern St Ann. They (constituents) have suffered immensely for the past 14 years.”

Granston said he was unsure if he would take the matter further.

The win marks Hanna’s fourth successive victory in a seat long considered a safe one for the PNP.

Her first victory came in 2007 when she defeated the JLP’s Peter Fakhourie by 2,697, followed in 2011 when she overcame Oneil Esteen by 4,245. Then in 2016, she defeated Ivan Anderson by a margin of 3,137.