EOJ must share blame for election results confusion, commentators say

By Nakinskie Robinson    

 

Social and political commentators say greater clarity should have been provided by the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) amid a raging debate about who won last Monday's local government election.

 

Following the election, both the Jamaica Labour Party and the People's National Party had been claiming to have won the election, using contrasting arguments to stake their claim.

 

Clarification that the JLP had indeed won came Saturday from the Electoral Commission of Jamaica, the board which oversees the operations of the EOJ. 

 

Germaine Barrett argues that the EOJ should shoulder some of the blame for the public confusion in light of what he says was not the smoothest and most effective communication of the results to the public. 

 

"Even as they go about undertaking their assessment, I'm sure that they are really thinking about how things have gone on and what things need to be changed in order to be more effective at the role that has been assigned to them," he noted. 

 

But Mr. Barrett admitted that this is the first time the Local Governance Act of 2016 has been tested. 

 

"It's a fairly new arrangement. We haven't had a local government election since then. That is how democracies work. You have to have sometimes some testing of processes and procedures in order for you to say, well, this didn't work or this is the interpretation that should apply. At the same time though, I agree...that how this has been panning out in the public domain is bad for the democracy," he reasoned. 

 

In light of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica's release which sought to further clarify the win count, the Commission explicitly affirmed the city municipality of Portmore as a win for the People's National Party, putting the numbers at 7 to 6 in favour of the ruling party.

 

The PNP, having received a majority of the votes cast in the Kingston and St. Andrew Municipal Corporation, will determine who will be Chairman. The JLP will select the Deputy Chairman. 

 

The ECJ's clarification came against the backdrop of public confusion about the election results and arguments made by the opposition that Portmore should have been clearly stated as part of the win count for the PNP. 

 

Initially the results were communicated as 7 for the JLP and 5 for the PNP, and that the opposition will also assume mayorship of Portmore.  

 

But Carol Narcisse, who has criticised the PNP's decision to claim victory - which she argues is adding to public confusion and is contradictory to the results of the EOJ - said the electoral body is seemingly scrambling to carry out parts of its mandate under the Local Governance Act (2016) and perhaps needs a team of lawyers to help it interpret the legislation accurately. 

 

"We all need to take a look and get familiar with the 2016 Local Governance Act. Now, the act is...clear enough, but it's certainly subject to, you know, we could always go to court and say, look here, court, help us understand this better. So we have to now learn how to understand these different levels and how to interpret the law," she suggested. 

 

Both Ms. Narcisse and Mr. Barrett were guests Monday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106FM.