Political campaigning to resume - ECJ commends Cabinet for early election date

Published in the Jamaica Gleaner: Sunday | August 26, 2007

Mark Beckford, Staff Reporter

Jamaicans should brace themselves this week for an increase in election campaigning after a lull due to the passage of Hurricane Dean.

With September 3 now confirmed as the official date of the general election, the major political parties - the People's National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) - are expected to resume major campaigning.

Sensitivity

The PNP has resumed road meetings, holding its first post-'Dean' meeting yesterday in St.James.

In a release, General Secretary Donald Buchanan said that the party resumed campaigning based on the commencement of hurricane-relief efforts and the announcement of the election date.

"We will conduct our campaign activities with great sensitivity to the plight facing many members of the Jamaican family who are still suffering from the effects of the hurricane."

JLP General Secretary Karl Samuda said that his party would be meeting tomorrow to discuss when his party would hit the road. He also said that the JLP had not ceased campaigning but the level had bee>"We have never stopped campaigning; the overall level of intensity has been changed. We have been having a personal type of campaigning where we meet and share and empathise with the people, and where we try our best to assist these persons through the official agencies."

Precedent set

Professor Errol Miller, chairman of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica, has commended the Cabinet for accepting the recommended date of September 3 for holding the election following its postponement from August 27, due to dislocation from Hurricane Dean.

In a release, Professor Miller said the Cabinet had set a precedent that could be patterned in the future.

"All Jamaicans can be justly proud that the Cabinet of Jamaica, acting within the powers granted to it by law, did not use those powers in a manner that could be construed to be in the interest of the governing political party," said Miller. "Instead, Cabinet used those powers to preserve and enhance the effectiveness and credibility of the Electoral Commission as the institution in which all issues and matters surrounding the electoral system can be resolved."