By Al Edwards and Andrew Green, Business Co-ordinator and Staff reporter 
Clarke, Clarke, Forstmayr, Kerr-Jarrett and Orane
With the return of a new PNP Government, the business community will be looking to it to deal quickly with the big social and economic issues that have retarded the development of the country.
President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), Oliver Clarke:
"Firstly we would like to congratulate the Prime Minister P.J. Patterson and the People's National Party (PNP) on winning what is for Jamaica a historic victory and a fourth term. We would also commend the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in terms of gaining an increased position in Parliament.
We are though going to expect that a new Government can act quickly and decisively in dealing with the big issues that the society must confront. The Government will have to find a way to work with the increased Opposition in Parliament as well as with civil society to deal with these issues. Now the big issues we see right now are a major fiscal problem where the revenues of the country are insufficient to meet its expenditure. It is absolutely clear that crime remains perhaps the biggest issue that the country faces. The pressure to get rid of the trans-shipment of drugs through Jamaica has to be increased. The economy has to grow and focus on job creation. We feel that the redevelopment of the inner cities is required on an urgent basis. I have been concerned on election day for example at the amount of gun fire that has occurred in the inner city and the number of roads blocked, people trying to protect themselves. We have to improve the management of the urban areas. The other area that we are concerned with is the increasing incidence of AIDS in Jamaica. We need a much more aggressive and effective campaign to deal with that. Overall what we want to encourage and we will work with the Government and the Opposition towards this end, is that the major issues that face the country get dealt with quickly and effectively. That can only be done by the Government forging alliances and negotiating positions with the Opposition and other groups in civil society. The Government cannot afford a honeymoon before dealing with the important issues at hand and we stand ready to work with it.
Chairman and chief Executive Officer of Grace, Kennedy & Company Douglas Orane:
"The people have spoken and with the Government now having a reduced majority it signals that people want more of a collaboration on national issues rather than a confrontational approach. This result indicates that the citizenry have a higher expectation of their candidates and that the electorate is critically observant of everyone involved in politics. The days of the blanket vote are over and the role of civil society will become more important.
"There will be no honeymoon period for this new PNP Government, it will have to address the problems ailing the country right from today. It provides an ideal opportunity to create a new paradigm of how we view our country.
"Rather than thinking of wealth as finite, we must create wealth together and improve the quality of life of all of us together. This would mean abandoning the culture of begrudgery and replacing it with this more positive paradigm.
"We need a sustainable economic programme understood by the entire country. We need to manage our debt burden relative to the size of the economy which means removing the obstacles to growth. In the short term we need to make a concerted effort to reduce crime.
There is a feeling by Jamaicans that the justice system doesn't work for them therefore to attain social stability we need to find a way quickly to ensure social stability by justice working for all. A vibrant business sector can only be truly effective if there is social stability, a low crime rate, predictability in Government policies, transparency, a court system that administers quick and dispassionate justice and an educated population.
The quality and professionalism at which this election has been run must be noted and commended. It revealed a higher quality of election worker and co-ordimnated security measures. This is vindication that we as a people can achieve what we want to.
President of the Jamaica Manufacturers Association (JMA), Clarence Clarke:
"The closeness of the election result is good for democracy. The new Government now has a hard road ahead of it in addressing the problems of the economy and the growing debt burden. The strength of the Opposition will lend itself to better Government and better governance.
"There will now have to be greater control of Government spending. Both parties put out a manifesto that drew attention to rebuilding the manufacturing sector and we stand ready to work with the new Government on that. We are looking to this new Government to put more investment in place and encourage greater growth and to reduce the national debt."
President of the Montego bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mark Kerr-Jarrett:
"This is a turning point in Jamaica's politics and how the nation deals with its own administration.
"It has now made its decision on its representation on the basis of the quality of the candidates and not strictly on the party issue and that is a tremendous encouragement.
"We are going to have a strong Opposition with a lot of new faces in Parliament that I hope is going to bring a lot of vibrancy and accountability there.
"However, Jamaica is no different yesterday from today. We still face the same problems. I think it is going to be a very hard road to slog.
"We have got to put our feelings aside and buckle down to the business of nation-building. We still have crime problems, debt, unemployment and global opinion isn't favourable to us.
"Let us come solidly behind the Government and support them while demanding accountability, performance and efficiency.
"I would like to congratulate Prime Minister P.J. Patterson and the PNP for a very well run campaign and the JLP for a very well run campaign as well.
"My congratulations to the security forces, the media and everybody. I think it has been a very balanced campaign.
"But let us not forget there is no difference in the country between yesterday and today."
President of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, Micheal Ammar Jr.:
"Jamaica should be proud of what happened today. In the long run, there were no losers today. Jamaica won.
"I am 45 years old and I have never experienced an election that was so peaceful, well organised and professional. I was proud to be a Jamaican today.
"The police for the most part were very professional. The EOJ was using mostly new workers, but I think the system worked well.
"I think the politicians themselves showed a new level of maturity. What Andrew Holness and Patrick Roberts did today (yesterday) is something which we all should applaud. Walking through that constituency together and stopping the war that was about to break out, despite the fact that they knew one of them was going to lose was what being a Jamaican is all about.
"You know there is obviously a losing side and a winning side, but I think our country is better off for what happened today. We now have a strong Parliament with a strong Opposition and everything went well.
"And I think the country can be proud that despite the problems we will have to face tomorrow, there is hope. We can save ourselves. We don't need anybody to do it for us. The Chamber looks forward to working with the new Government and the new Opposition to try and tackle the problems that are still the same yesterday as they are today. But I am sure that in the spirit that I saw exercised during the election, I think we should be more confident that we will be able to solve them."
President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, Josef Forstmayr:
"I am absolutely delighted at the maturity of the Jamaican electorate which is very much focused on issues. The quality of the candidates in the constituencies was the critical consideration in the election outcome.
"It is the maturity of our democracy which is the victor here.
"I am very hopeful that for the first time in the last 23 years we are going to have a strong Parliament because we are going to have a strong Opposition. How we use this system is going to be interesting to see."
"That has never been the case. There has usually been one landslide after another and the defeated party was left licking its wounds for years, never offering an effective Opposition to what was going on.
"There is certainly going to be a changed picture now.
"This is mandate for the PNP to be a lot more transparent and it will also put more pressure on he JLP to sustain its platform I am hopeful that there is an acceptance of the decision of the voters. A majority is a majority. We need to move on now and get back to the business of government. There are a lot of outstanding issues that need to be resolved. What does not make me happy is the jumping murder rate.
"It is unacceptable.
"Whether it is related or unrelated to politics is not an issue. A murder is a murder is a murder.
"We have taken a hit in the media in the last three days because of the escalation of the killings. That is not helpful.
"The international media tried to be balanced, but what we heard was 80 murders committed since the announcement of the elections on September 22. That is just horrendous."
