The opposition Jamaica Labor Party (JLP), led by Andrew Holness, won the country's general election after a close race against standing Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller, who was projected to win the election with her People's National Party (PNP).
Following a campaign that was dominated by economic issues, results from Jamaica's Electoral Commission showed the JLP gaining 33 spots in the 63-seat Parliament, enough to form a government. Voter turnout was around 47 percent.
Holness promised to create jobs and boost the economy while strengthening education and health care, pledging to create 250,000 jobs on the island of 2.7 million people and reduce income tax for many wage earners, according to Reuters. Youth unemployment in the country currently stands at 38 percent.
"We don't take it that we have won a prize," Holness, 43, announced to his supporters as he arrived at the JLP's headquarters in the capital city of Kingston. "The cost of victory is to keep the commitments we have made."
Simpson-Miller, 70, became Jamaica's first female leader in 2006. After her first term ended in 2007, she returned as prime minister in 2011. She faced a dwindling economy and one of the highest levels of debt relative to GDP in the world, reported the CBC.
Applying what some have labeled as austerity measures, during her tenure, she negotiated a four-year International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan package for $930 million in exchange for swapping the country's debt, according to the BBC.
Although the Jamaican dollar has declined while the cost of living has increased, the IMF praised Simpson-Miller's government for cutting debt and making other economic reforms, explained the Associated Press. The country's stock market was rated among the world's best performers in 2015.
Holness briefly served as prime minister in 2011 after U.S. efforts to extradite drug kingpin Christopher "Dudus" Coke forced his predecessor to resign, according to Reuters.
