The polls have closed and preliminary counting of ballots is getting underway in the East Portland by election.

Attention has now been turned to the counting centre at the Port Antonio High School for this hotly contested seat , which saw the Jamaica Labour Party’s Ann Marie Vaz going up against the  People’s National Party’s Damion Crawford.

Today’s ( Apl 4) by election was generally smooth, with no major incident reported.

Reports emerged of a slow voting process with some delays and frustration, as in some instances electors turned up without their voter identification card.

Individuals without their ID cards had to swear or affirm to an oath of identity and be fingerprinted in order to vote.

Meanwhile, the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) reported a voter turnout of more than 47 % up to early this afternoon.

At 3:00 p.m, 47.32 % of the electors had voted. This compared to 34.84 % in the 2016 elections.

Voting was higher through-out the day when compared to the last general elections.

The earliest figures released by the EOJ showed that the first four hours of voting between 7:00 a.m. 11:00 a-m had a 25.28 % turn out, compared to 14.47 % in the last general election.

Voting began at 7:00 a.m. and closed at 5:00 p.m. at 127 polling stations, across 49 voting locations.

There are 36,315 registered voters in the Portland eastern constituency.

The EOJ has not yet issued the final figure for voter turn-out.