The second General Parliamentary Elections were held in Jamaica on 20 December 1949 for all 32 seats in the House of Representatives.

Electoral System

The 32 members of the House of Representatives are elected in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting. There is no fixed election date in effect in Jamaica at this time; hence, the choice of election date is the prerogative of the Head of Government.

Political Parties & Candidates

A total of 116 candidates contested the election. The People's National Party (PNP) presented a full slate of 32 candidates. The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) presented 31 candidates; the Agricultural Industrial Party (AIP) presented seven candiates; and the Unity Party of Jamaica (UPJ) presented three candidates. There were also 43 indendent candidates.

Results

Under this system of "first past the post", the PNP who had a larger majority of the votes, won only 13 seats while the JLP won 17 seats.

In 1953 the Ministerial System of Government was formally introduced as part of the Executive Arm of Government and the Hon. Alexander Bustamante became the first Chief Minister by the approval of the House of Representative and as such was responsible to nominate 7 other Ministers to be appointed by the Governor who served as part of the Executive Council.

Voter Turnout

Voter turnout was 65.16%.