ONLY ONE-THIRD the number of registered voters turned out to cast their ballots in the rerun of elections at four polling stations in the Trench Town division yesterday.
At the close of the polls, the People's National Party's Bonitto Brown received the majority of the votes cast at the four polling stations, trumping Maxine Siddoo of the Jamaica Labour Party.
According to Neville Graham, information officer at the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ), 200 votes were cast out of a possible 600 electors that were eligible to vote.
In the Local Government election held in June, Brown defeated Siddoo by 3,340 votes. Of the 4,227 votes cast in the division, Siddoo received 881.
For much of the day the voting process was slow with voters turning out in trickles to cast votes.
Mr. Graham said the process was for the most part uneventful, but was disrupted when an elderly woman attempted to impersonate another voter. No action was taken against her.
A press release from Citizens Action for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE) said "the Presiding Officer warned her that impersonation was a criminal offence and she left quickly without further incident."
Elections were ordered to be rerun in four polling stations by the Election Court in September after reports surfaced that indoor agents representing one of the two major political parties were chased out of the polling stations by thugs. There were also reports of voter impersonation.
The Constituted Authority subsequently referred the matter to the Election Court which ruled that the election be rerun.
Mr. Graham said all polling stations opened on time and all the required personnel were present, but expressed concern that there were no representatives of the JLP although provisions were made for them.
