Juliet Holness Elected Speaker of Jamaican Parliament, Replacing Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert

Kingston – Juliet Holness, the wife of Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness and a Member of the House of Representatives, was on Tuesday elected Speaker, replacing Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert who stepped down from the post and as a legislator last Thursday.

Holness, the parliamentary representative for St Andrew East Rural, was nominated by acting leader of government business, Delroy Chuck, and seconded by Phillip Paulwell, the Leader of Opposition business in the Parliament.

The seat became vacant after Dalrymple-Philibert came under mounting pressure to step down following a damning report from the Integrity Commission which recommended eight criminal charges against her related to omissions she made on her statutory declarations for the period 2015-2021 and her failure to declare a six million dollar vehicle.

Heroy Clarke, Member of Parliament for St James Central has been named the deputy speaker.

The ruling Jamaica Labour party (JLP) enjoys a significant majority in the 63-member Parliament winning 49 seats in the September 3, 2020 general election while the main opposition was victorious in the remaining 14 constituencies. (CMC)