PNP Appoints Youngest Senator in Jamaica's History, 23-Year-Old Gabriela Morris

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Earlier this week, the People's National Party (PNP) appointed Gabriela Morris to the opposition Senate, making her the youngest Jamaican to ever to appointed as a Senator.

The 23-year-old Communications Specialist was one of the record number of eight women that were appointed to the Jamaican Senate during a swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday.

As a longtime member of the PNP’s youth organization, the PNPYO, Gabriela Morris is not entirely new to politics. During her teenage years, the Montego Bay native worked in community projects for the party and was also part of Peter Bunting’s Rise United team.

Though now representing the youth in the upper house, Morris is still a student at the University of West Indies. Earlier this week, she tweeted that her first degree in Pharmacology was awarded and that she will begin her masters in communication for social and behavioural change next week.

Her historic rise to senate comes on the heels of a loss in the university’s Guild of Students elections in June, where she failed in her bid to become president.

Her appointment shocked many Jamaicans, especially young voters, who have long associated the People’s National Party as with veteran politicians and old political traditions. Just this week, the PNP’s own youth organization, PNPYO had given leader of the party Dr. Peter Phillips an ultimatum to resign by November.