5 Dollars Independence, copper-nickel

Jamaica's 1983 coinage is inseparable from the political crisis surrounding it. Prime Minister Edward Seaga called a snap election in December 1983, exploiting a constitutional technicality before the electoral rolls could be updated — the opposition People's National Party boycotted entirely, leaving the Jamaica Labour Party to win all 60 parliamentary seats unopposed. The coins dated 1983 were issued into an economy under severe IMF-mandated austerity, with the Jamaican dollar having lost roughly half its value against the US dollar in the preceding two years.