By Balford Henry, News EditorA TENSE situation prevailed at the Waterford High School (South East St. Catherine), where a large number of People's National Party (PNP) and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters dressed in orange and green crowded the school.
JLP liaison officers there were concerned that they were not being allowed to go inside the polling stations to see what was in place and what was happening. One woman claimed that she was being taunted by PNP supporters, but at the insistence of a friend, who had accompanied her to the school, she said that wouldn't stop her from voting.
The school has a large cluster of PDs and while there were a number of auxiliary police personnel, there were only two policemen stationed there. However, as we were about to leave three patrol cars with police officers turned up.
Things were very quiet at all Portmore constituencies of South East and South St. Catherine and voting was very slow in the mid-afternoon, but Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) spokespersons said they were not concerned, as the heavy voting was expected late afternoon when most residents returned home from work.
In Greater Portmore (South) rain poured heavily as a few voters trickled in, but again EOJ officials were optimistic that voting would pick up in the afternoon.
There was heavy voting in the Naggo Head area regarded as a JLP stronghold, despite the rain.
