Jamaican voters delivered a landslide victory to the Portia Simpson Miller-led People's National Party (PNP), shocking the Andrew Holness-led Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) and confounding pundits and pollsters, who predicted a squeaker for the elections held on Thursday (December 29).

The PNP won 41 of the 63 available seats to the JLP's 22, in an election with less than 50 percent of the 1.6 million voters.

With the massive victory, the PNP returns to office after being in the political wilderness since 2007 when the party was narrowly defeated by the then Bruce Golding-led Jamaica Labor Party (JLP).

Simpson Miller will now get her official mandate with her party's resounding victory. "I am humbled as I stand before you and I wish to thank the Jamaican people for their love and their support and for giving the People's National Party and the leader of the party her own mandate," the Prime Minister-elect said. She said she was proud to see supporters of both parties hugging in friendly rivalry and that "this leader will be working with all Jamaicans as one Jamaican family as we shape the future together."

Holness said he "wished the new government well" aware of the challenges facing the new administration. He called the loss "a humbling experience" and said it was "a time for introspection" for the JLP. "This will shock us. It will have an impact; but we will come again," Holness said.

It was a consensus that the elections would be an extremely close one with most analysts and pollsters predicting that three or four seats would separate the winning and losing party. However, the voters proved the pundits wrong, delivering a crushing blow to the JLP.

The National Weekly had originally predicted a PNP 33-30 victory, but cautioned that there were 14 seats that could go either way. Most Jamaican analysts also predicted that there were some 12 marginal seats which could have gone either way, and most of these seats went to the PNP.

Ironically, many of the seats won by the JLP were by closer than expected margins. For example, Christopher Tufton, one of the regional leaders for the JLP, narrowly escaped with 101 votes over competitor Hugh Buchannan – a clear indication of the mood of the electorate. While Simpson Miller won her seat (South Western St. Andrew) with some 95 percent of the votes, Holness' win in West Central St. Andrew was by a closer margin just 54 percent of the votes.

PNP members returning to parliament include Peter Phillips, Omar Davies, Robert Pickersgill and Ronnie Thwaites, while the newcomers to office include Raymond Price and Denise Daley.

Among the JLP's victorious candidates were veteran parliamentarians Daryl Vaz, Audley Shaw, Delroy Chuck and Olivia "Babsy" Grange. Surprising losses, for the JLP include Robert Montague, Andrew Gallimore and Clive Mullings.

Only the late Sir Donald Sangster, who served as prime minister for only 48 days in 1963 before dying while in office, had a shorter tenure than Holness.

Although a former prime minister, this is the first time Simpson Miller was elected into office by the Jamaican electorate. She was appointed as the leader of the PNP in 2006, following the resignation of former PNP leader and Prime Minister P.J. Patterson. She assumed the role of prime minister following her election as PNP leader.

This general election is the 16th held in Jamaica since adult suffrage in 1944 and the 11th since independence in 1962. Over 1.6 million Jamaicans were on the voters list, and early estimates are that 48.2 percent voted on Thursday.

The new government, led by Simpson Miller, will have to guide the country for the next five years through a very challenging economic climate, marked by high unemployment and poverty, especially in the nation's inner cities and rural parishes. Among the early challenges facing the new government is resuming talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over the stalled 27-month standby agreement. There are fears that the IMF could request the government to take more stringent measures such as laying off a significant percentage of public workers to attain economic growth.

Going into the general election, the close result was anticipated because it was felt that despite the inspiration generated by Holness' youth, he did not have the experience to head the government during the current harsh economic conditions. On the other hand, while some segments of the Jamaican population had doubts about Simpson Miller's ability to effectively lead the government, the majority of poor and rural voters saw her as their best chance of improving their lowly standard of living. The PNP's victory was largely due to votes in favor of PNP candidates in rural and working class constituencies mainly in the parishes of Westmoreland, St. Mary, St. Ann and Kingston.