The Organisation of American States (OAS) will send election observers to Jamaica to monitor the polls on Election Day, August 27.

OAS Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin, who will lead the observers, said two-person teams could be deployed in all 60 constituencies but that the number depended on the level of funding made available from member states, with only Canada having committed funding so far.

The OAS is also requesting local diplomatic missions lend observers during the election.

Speaking during the press conference held at the Hilton Hotel in New Kingston to announce the cooperation agreement with the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ), Mr. Ramdin said the OAS would prioritise ‘most needed’ constituencies. These constituencies will be assessed in partnership with the EOJ, while the OAS will also work closely with Jamaica’s Citizens’ Action for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE), which also provides observers on Election Day.

However he stressed that Jamaica’s situation was not extraordinary and that it would also be a learning process for the OAS: “I have not seen in my experience, any election going (totally) smoothly … you come to many, many challenges on the day of elections.”

Director of Elections Danville Walker, while repeating his expectation of an efficient election, said the EOJ had similarly benefited from the knowledge gained by employees working overseas in improving the national electoral system.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 15th, 2007 at 6:20 pm and is filed under Election monitoring. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.