GEORGETOWN, Guyana - The Caribbean Community (CARICOM), at the invitation of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), has mounted a ten-member CARICOM Election Observation Mission (CEOM) to observe the electoral processes for the general election to be held in September 3.
The team arrived in Jamaica earlier this week.
In a statement on Saturday, CARICOM said members of CEOM, will be observing the process from August 27 to September 5.
The CEOM is headed by the Chief of Mission, Fern Narcis, Chief Elections Officer of the Elections and Boundaries Commission of Trinidad and Tobago.
The other Members of the Observation Mission are Clovis St. Romain, the Commissioner of Antigua and Barbuda’s Electoral Commission; Elisa Graham, Public Relations Officer who is also from Antigua and Barbuda’s Electoral Commission; Denise Pinder from The Bahamas who is the Assistant Parliamentary Commissioner in the Parliamentary Registration Department; Alymphia Lionel, Assistant Chief Elections Officer of the Electoral Department St Lucia .
Also from St Lucia is Peter Kervin Fedee, Systems/Network Administrator, Electoral Department; Danielle Williams, National Security Electoral Quality Assurance Clerk at the Electoral Office in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Anushka Ramesar-Gopalrai and Ravin Jiswan from Suriname and Danielle Chow, from Trindad and Tobago,
The CEOM is also supported by CARICOM Secretariat staff.
The Core Group, which consists of the Chief of Mission and CARICOM Secretariat Staff, arrived in Jamaica on August 27.
Other Observers also arrived on August 27 and some on August 28.
Since their arrival, meetings have been held with Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Foreign Affairs minister Kamina Johnson Smith.
Members of the team also observed the conduct of the Advance Poll at several locations on Friday.
Over the coming days, the Mission will continue its program of engagements, meeting with the Opposition political parties, the Electoral Commission of Jamaica, the Commissioner of Police, and as many other stakeholders of the electoral process as time will allow.
According to CARICOM, the role of the CEOM Observers on election day is to observe the electoral process across Jamaica, including preparations for the start of the poll, the casting of votes, the closure of the polling stations, the counting of the ballots, the preparation of the statement of polls and the tabulation of results.
Qualitative and quantitative information regarding the voting process and the results will be collected to facilitate the preparation of an Independent Final Report on the General Parliamentary Elections to Jamaica with the objective of assessing its transparency, fairness, and adherence to accepted democratic standards.
Following the conclusion of the Election Day activities a Preliminary Statement will be issued, outlining the Mission’s initial assessment of the electoral process.
The Mission will then prepare a detailed Independent Final Report on the elections for submission to Dr. Carla Barnett, Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community.
“The CEOM looks forward to supporting the democratic processes of Jamaica and extends best wishes to the Jamaican people as they prepare to go to the polls with pride and unity on September 3,” the Secretariat said.
