SOME 500 people representing the ruling People's National Party, the Op-position Jamaica Labour Party, the National Demo-cratic Movement and fringe parties are today expected to be nominated as candidates in the Local Govern-ment elections which are scheduled for June 19.

The two major parties plan to field a full slate of candidates in all 227 divisions that make up the 12 Parish Councils and the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation.

And for the first time, there will be nominations for candidates for mayor of the newly-created municipality of Portmore in south and south west St. Catherine.

Sources told The Gleaner that the NDM is likely to field 30 candidates. It will not be known until this afternoon whether any independents will contest the elections which have been postponed three times since 2001.

EOJ FULLY PREPARED

Neville Graham, information officer at the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ), told The Gleaner last night that his office was fully prepared for the occasion, the 13th such elections in the country's history. He said nothing was being left to chance.

"The returning officers will be carefully vetting for eligibility. So if a candidate is not on the November 2002 voters' list for the parish in which he's choosing to run, then he cannot run," Mr. Graham said.

With the people of Portmore being able to elect their own mayor in the upcoming election, hopefuls representing the 10 divisions that will make up the municipality are to be nominated today. "All the mayoral candidates have to present their nomination papers at the Ascot High School in St. Catherine Southern," Mr. Graham said.

The exact number of candidates making themselves available for the Local Government polls will not be known until the end of the nomination process, when the papers are handed in to the EOJ, Mr. Graham explained. He said nomination centres which are strategically placed in all 60 constituencies will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

A candidate will be nominated only after handing in his or her nomination papers with a $3,000 deposit and the signatures of six electors on the voters' list. The electors must reside in the particular division.

Dr. Peter Phillips, Minister of National Security, said in Montego Bay yesterday that the security forces were fully equipped and ready to handle any incidence of violence that may be associated with the elections on June 19.

He told The Gleaner that the security forces would work along a plan similar to that used in last October's General Election, in that they have already identified potential trouble spots and security personnel will be deployed accordingly.

"There was a meeting with all the officers in the (Police) High Command earlier this week and they are ready for the local elections," Dr. Phillips told The Gleaner's Western Bureau.