HEAT ON EOJ
Authority under fire as election results remain uncertain; director defends handling of polls
Published:Wednesday | February 28, 2024 | 12:11 AMKimone Francis/Senior Staff Reporter
The Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) is facing criticisms over its delivery of the results of Monday’s local government elections, which left the country without definitive answers on which of the two major political parties had won.
“They need to give an account,” public commentator Carol Narcisse said on Tuesday, in the aftermath of the local polls.
Narcisse said that the EOJ has a duty and responsibility to the public to deliver a post-mortem assessment of Monday’s operations when compared to previous years.
“They need to explain why the recount has to take more than 24 hours in the context of a low voter turnout … . What more capacity are they needing so that their performance, their turnaround time can improve even more?” she questioned, noting to that the EOJ must explain and apologise for the exclusion of Citizens Action for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE) during counting in some divisions.
The election observer group reported that it was booted from some counting centres against the customary protocol which allowed them to keep watch on the process.
Both the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the opposition People’s National Party (PNP) claimed victory on Monday night, with Prime Minister Andrew Holness asserting that his party had won at least seven of the 13 municipal corporations to the PNP’s four, while noting that two were tied.
Opposition Leader Mark Golding also claimed victory, declaring that the PNP had won most of the divisions.
On Tuesday, general secretary of the PNP, Dr Dayton Campbell, told The Gleaner that it raised at least two concerns with the EOJ about the denial of persons to vote although they reportedly presented an identification card.
He said that in these instances, the voters showed up at respective polling divisions at which they had voted over the years, but they were told that their names were on another list in a different division and constituency.
“They are not from there. They have never been there. So, that is something that requires investigation,” said Campbell.
Further, he pointed to the EOJ’s preliminary count, which showed that the PNP won St Mary, but it was later reported that the JLP had won.
“I’m not sure how. I’m also concerned as to why it is being reported that councils are now tied. You can have several amount of divisions but the final result cannot be a tie. It is clear that if there is a tie in having the same number of divisions, you use the majority vote to determine the winner,” Campbell told The Gleaner.
Former PNP General Secretary Senator Peter Bunting said while he believes that the population maintains confidence in the managers of the country’s electoral system and process, there are concerns that the latest polls were not run in the most efficient manner.
“When you have a good system, you can’t take it for granted. You have to be constantly fine-tuning and updating it, especially the reporting. It seems to have deteriorated this time around, both for the special electors and for yesterday (Monday),” Bunting said.
He offered that the EOJ examine the system and determine ways it can improve it.
But the EOJ has maintained that its team was efficient although acknowledging that there were some glitches.
“We worked very hard for things to run smoothly,” Director of Elections Glasspole Brown told The Gleaner in countering the assessments.
He said where issues surfaced, they were addressed promptly.
Brown said it was not a fair criticism to note that the final results would not be delivered within 24 hours after the election.
“The preliminary results were delivered the same night. There’s another phase and it has always happened in elections. There has never been a time that within 24 hours, it was completed, in terms of the recount,” he said.
Brown said counting should conclude later today.
Without being definitive, he said that “the preliminary has given a good indication” as to the winner, but cautioned that in a close election, anything can change.
Attempts by The Gleaner on Tuesday to reach JLP General Secretary Dr Horace Chang were unsuccessful. However, he told Radio Jamaica’s Beyond The Headlines host Dionne Jackson Miller that he had no major concerns with the process on Monday.
He said that it demonstrated that Jamaica has a good electoral system, which gives credit to the democracy of the country and the people who manage the system.