1983 Jamaican general election

The Labour Party had convincingly won the 1980 general election, taking 51 of the 60 seats in the House of Representatives. At the time, the party had promised to update the electoral roll, but failed to do so by the 1983 elections. Seaga claimed that the move was due to People's National Party leader Michael Manley calling for him to resign from his post of Finance Minister (which he held in addition to being Prime Minister), and that the early elections would be a public vote of confidence in his austerity plans. However, the opposition and independent candidates only contested six constituencies, resulting in Labour Party candidates winning 54 seats unopposed. ==Results==

Although turnout in the contested seats was estimated to be around 55%, the overall total was just 3%, by far the lowest in the country's history and one of three occasions (the others being 2016 and 2020) it has been below 50%. ==Aftermath==

The Labour Party government was sworn in on 19 December, On 30 December Governor-General Florizel Glasspole appointed eight independent senators; Clarence Reid, Charles Sinclair, Emil George, Errol Miller, Lloyd Barnett, Courtney Lloyd Fletcher, Barbara Makeda Blake and Keith Worrell, who were recommended by Seaga. ==References==