POLICE PERSONNEL, members of the military and Election Day workers will cast their ballots next Monday, three days before the rest of the population votes in Local Government elections on June 19.

According to Neville Graham, public relations officer at the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ), all is set for the event.

He said that over 2,200 military personnel, 16,000 Election Day workers and 6,000 police officers are eligible to cast their vote.

Details of the 21 respective voting centres for the police and five centres for the soldiers will be published in local newspapers on Sunday, he said. Persons may also contact the EOJ at 1888-991-VOTE for such information.

Thursday's elections, the 13th in the country's history, will cost the Government $350 million, the same amount that was spent on last October's General Election.

Recently, the EOJ announced that the only difference between the two elections would be an increase in the number of names on the ballot paper as more candidates will be contesting the local poll. Four hundred and ninety-five candidates were nominated on May 30 to contest the elections. The governing People's National Party and the opposition Jamaica Labour Party nominated full slates of 227 candidates each.

Fourteen candidates were fielded by the struggling National Democratic Movement (NDM), four by the Imperial Ethiopian World Federation Party (IEWFP) and two by the People's Progressive Party (PPP). Twenty-one independent candidates were also nominated.