Put removal of King on 2023 local gov’t ballot – Robinson

Opposition Spokesman on Finance Julian Robinson has called for the Government to include a referendum ballot to remove King Charles III as Jamaica’s head of state in the upcoming local government elections.

The municipal polls are constitutionally due by February 2023.

Robinson said that the combination vote would be a cost-effective and efficient means of addressing the vestige of colonialism which has stoked a new round of public debate since the September 8 passing of the Queen.

The late monarch was buried on Monday.

“The cost of administering a referendum is very high. It is similar to the cost of holding an election. Since you are committed to having a local government election by February next year, the cost can be absorbed within that process,” the St Andrew South East member of parliament said in a Gleaner interview.

He added: “What would happen is that you’d have two sets of ballots – a ballot that would have the candidate that you’ll be voting for in the local government election, and a simple ballot that would ask the question, ‘Do you want to retain the King as the head of state?’ So you’d be issuing two ballots at the same time.”

Just over half, or 56 per cent, of Jamaicans want the country to remove the monarch as head of state, a July RJRGLEANER-Don Anderson opinion poll found.

That represents a surge of 12 percentage points over the 44 per cent of respondents who had that view in 2012.

Robinson believes that the Holness administration should set an early date for the referendum and not wait a couple of years to organise it.

The Government announced earlier this year a general-election deadline for Jamaica to ditch the monarchy. The next general election is constitutionally due by 2025.

The proposed law for Jamaica’s push for republican status is expected to be tabled at the beginning of the 2023-2024 legislative year.

Meanwhile, chairman of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica, Earl Jarrett, said that his office is prepared to carry out any referendum on the instructions of the Government.

“Everything is doable with the right budget. The Electoral Office of Jamaica is well equipped with staff and resources to do any referendum required,” he told The Gleaner.

Jamaica is among 15 Commonwealth nations that recognise Charles III as their monarch.

CARICOM states The Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda have signalled their intention to cut ties with the British monarchy following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Robinson believes Jamaica should get cracking on that mandate.

“I believe the time has come now. It is a bit of a folly, even though we commiserate with the royal family, to still have as our head of state somebody who represents probably the most oppressive period that we have experienced as a people,” the lawmaker said.