The Jamaica United Front was a small right-wing political party in Jamaica.

In 1980 the party proposed a national unity government of the Jamaica Labour Party and the People's National Party.[1] Party leader Charles Johnson, who had been a member of the United States Army, serving in Vietnam and was running a security company in Kingston,[1] was subsequently involved in an attempted coup on 23 June 1980.[2] The coup was seen by the left as a plot by the CIA. Meanwhile, the Jamaican Labour Party (which had not been involved) saw it as an excuse to bring in troops from Cuba prior to elections.[3] Johnson was acquitted in 1981 when a witness was judged to be unreliable.[4]

The party contested one seat in the 1983 Jamaican general election. The elections that year saw a mass boycott (turnout was just 3%)[5] as the People's National Party protested against the government. The JUF received only 144 votes and failed to win a seat.[5] It did not contest any further elections.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 Jamaica's Military and Police Meet to Discuss 'Conspiracy'
  2. ↑ The quest for security in the Caribbean, p136
  3. ↑ Jamaica Releases Failed Coup Plot Details
  4. ↑ Political Parties of the Caribbean, 1980s to 1990s
  5. 1 2 3 Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p432–435 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.