Senate Passes Electoral Commission Bill

The Senate on Friday (Oct. 20) passed the Electoral Commission (Interim) Act 2006, clearing the way for the establishment of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica.
Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Senator A.J. Nicholson, who piloted the Bill through the Upper House, explained that in addition to conducting general elections, by-elections or referenda, the Commission would be responsible for compiling and maintaining the register of eligible electors; verifying the identity of every eligible elector; approving political parties eligible to receive state funding; and administering electoral funding and financial disclosure requirements.
According to Senator Nicholson, by passing the legislation, “we are deepening our democratic traditions which, with the passage of time, ultimately come to be one of the means by which our civilization is to be judged”.
“We are also taking another step along the journey towards joining that band of countries, including so many of our sister countries of the Commonwealth, that have long embarked upon the road of establishing this kind of independent authority,” he added.
He noted further, that the process was a “step in the direction of constitutional reform and that we must quicken the pace of the reform of our Independence constitution, since such reform would include the entrenchment of this Electoral Commission of Jamaica”.