Golding sworn in as Jamaican prime minister
Bruce Golding, whose Jamaica Labor Party won 33 of 60 seats in Parliament in last week's general election, was sworn in as prime minister Tuesday.
Golding asked for national unity and appealed to outgoing prime minister and new opposition party leader Portia Simpson-Miller for cooperation.
The JLP won the national election for the first time in 20 years. Golding left the JLP and formed a third party in 1995, but returned in 2002 and became the leader of what had been the opposition party for years.
Historically, there has been a contentious relationship between the JLP and Simpson-Miller's National Democratic Movement party. In the inaugural address, Golding spoke directly to Simpson-Miller, who was in the audience, and said: 'In our two pairs of hands rest so much of the hopes of the people of Jamaica. We have a choice. Those hands can engage in hand-to-hand combat or we can join those hands together to build a nation that is strong, just, peaceful and prosperous.'
A complete copy of the speech is available on the Jamaica Information Service website at www.jis.gov.jm/PMspeeches.
Golding sworn in as Jamaican prime minister
