#JaVotes2025 | Porus couple votes together with newborn in tow
For Porus couple Leon Brown and Dwayna Green, casting their ballots was a family affair. The pair, who say they do everything together, arrived at the Porus Infant School in Manchester Southern with their two-week-old son, Amir, and patiently waited in line to vote for Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate Ian Ives.
“Mi bawn inna it,” Brown, a construction worker, said. Though he admits that he does not really know Ives, his loyalty is with the JLP, regardless.
“Dem (JLP) do things inna mi area, because wi have nice road a drive pon and stuff like dat. Mi can see where my party play dem part, suh mi aguh play my part,” he said.
The JLP’s Ives is up against the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Peter Bunting and the Jamaica Progressive Party's Karen Scott.
Stating that this is her first general election, Green said that although she is from a family of die-hard PNP supporters, she decided to switch to the JLP because she aligns with it better.
Despite being hesitant to reveal which political party they supported, husband and wife Rupert and Nadia Badley shared a similar story. The couple, married for 26 years, has been visiting polling stations together over the last five general elections.
They say they do everything together, except divulging which party's candidate will be getting their vote.
“Sometimes I don’t even know what she vote for!” Rupert said. “We don’t generally discuss those things in any detail. Everybody have their own preference, and so that’s it,” he added. Nadia nodded in agreement.
“When it comes to Jamaican politics, I don’t really discuss it out in public,” she said. “Because of how I grew up, things I saw happening kinda turned me off, but I have a right (to vote), and I just come out and vote.”
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