News

• Mar 09, 2012: Jamaica: 478 candidates nominated for Local Gov't polls, Jamaica Observer (2012) A total of 478 candidates were nominated to contest the March 26 local government polls with the opposition JLP fielding 228 candidates and the ruling PNP fielding 227.
• Mar 09, 2012:
• Feb 24, 2012: Jamaica: It's March 26 - PM gives date for Local Gov’t polls, Jamaica Observer (2012) JAMAICANS will vote in Local Government Elections on March 26, three months after the December 29 Parliamentary poll in which the People's National Party (PNP) swept to power in a landslide victory of 42 seats to the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP's) 21.
• Feb 20, 2012: Jamaica: EOJ gets cash for local gov't polls, Jamaica Gleaner (2012) A senior government official has confirmed that the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) has been provided with funds to commence its preparations for the local government elections, expected to be held by the end of March.
• Jan 18, 2012: Jamaica: Members of Parliament Sworn In, Jamaica Information Service (2012) Sixty Two of Sixty Three Members of Parliament (MPs) who won their seats in the General Election on December 29, 2011, were sworn in on Monday, January 17, at the opening of the new session of Parliament, at Gordon House.
• Jan 04, 2012:
• Jan 04, 2012:
• Jan 04, 2012:
• Jan 04, 2012:
• Jan 03, 2012: Jamaica: OAS gives election a thumbs up, Jamaica Observer (2012) THE conduct of the general election last Thursday has earned the approval of the Organisation of American States (OAS), even as two other observer groups, including the Caricom Observer Mission, rated the poll among the best the island has experienced.
• Jan 03, 2012:
• Jan 03, 2012: Jamaica: Portia to be sworn in Thursday, Jamaica Observer (2012) PORTIA Simpson Miller will be sworn in as prime minister of Jamaica on Thursday afternoon, a week to the day that her People's National Party (PNP) crushed the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in a general election that returned her to the office of chief executive for a second time.
• Jan 03, 2012: Jamaica: PNP delivers crushing 41-22 seat defeat to JLP, Jamaica Observer (2011) THE People’s National Party (PNP) sent the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) back into Opposition after scoring a crushing 41-22-seat victory in the nation's 16th general election that pollsters and analysts had said was mostly too close to call.
• Dec 22, 2011: Jamaica:Reform of electoral system one of Jamaica's great achievements — Miller, Jamaica Observer (2011) CHAIRMAN of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) Professor Errol Miller says Jamaica can be proud of its electoral system, which has improved significantly since Universal Adult Suffrage in 1944 and continues to advance through the leadership of the ECJ.
• Dec 13, 2011: Jamaica:150 candidates nominated for December 29 election, Jamaica Observer (2011) Preliminary counts indicate that 150 candidates were nominated on Monday to contest the December 29 Parliamentary Elections in Jamaica. The Director of Elections has reported that the nomination proceedings were incident free.
• Dec 13, 2011:
• Dec 06, 2011: Jamaica:IDs for new voters tomorrow, Jamaica Observer (2011) Officials at the Electoral Office of Jamaica say the voter identification cards for the new electors who were added to the voters list published on November 30, should be ready for distribution to constituency offices by tomorrow.
• Dec 06, 2011: Professor warns Jamaicans to watch out for breaches of Political Code of Conduct, Jamaica Observer (2011) As the election campaigning intensifies, University of the West Indies Professor Trevor Munroe has offered a timely reminder that political interests need to keep their behaviour in line with the Political Code of Conduct inked by leaders of the two major political parties some years ago.
• Dec 06, 2011: Jamaica:Police, soldiers vote December 22, Jamaica Observer (2011) Jamaica's Director of Elections says police, military and election day workers are expected to cast their votes on December 22, ahead of the recently announced December 29 general election.
• Dec 05, 2011: Jamaica: Advisory issued for political broadcasts, Jamaica Observer (2011) Jamaica's Broadcasting Commission has issued a reminder to all radio and television stations and cable TV operators about the regulations relating to political broadcasts, in the wake of the recent announcement of general elections in that island.
• Dec 05, 2011:
• Dec 05, 2011:
• Dec 05, 2011: Jamaica: Residents step up pole decorating after election call, Jamaica Observer (2011) Residents in various communities across Jamaica are adorning the light poles in their communities with political flags in anticipation of the general elections to be held in December of this year.
• Dec 05, 2011: Jamaica PM calls election for December 29, Nomination Day December 12, Jamaica Observer (2011) Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness has announced that the caribbean island will go to the polls on December 29, with nomination day on December 12. This is the country's 16th general election since Universal Adult Suffrage in 1944.
• Dec 01, 2011: Jamaica: New candidates welcome $7m hike in campaign spending cap, Jamaica Observer (2011) New candidates contesting the next general elections say they are in full support of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica's (ECJ's) campaign finance reform recommendation which requires them to spend no more than J$10 million to fund campaigning in their constituencies.
• Nov 22, 2011: Jamaica PM hints that elections may be next month, AP (2011) Though refusing to make an official announcement, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the island's parliamentary elections will be held before year end.
• Nov 15, 2011: Jamaica: Electoral Office receives funds in full for election preparations, Jamaica Gleaner (2011) The Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) has now been given the full JD$350 million it had requested for preliminary prepare for the next general election. The funds will primarily be used to purchase new equipment and replace defective equipment to be used in the voter-identification and ballot-issuing system.
• Nov 15, 2011: Jamaica: Third parties prepare for general election, Jamaica Gleaner (2011) Third parties speak about preparations for the imminent general elections in Jamaica.
• Nov 03, 2011:
• Sep 21, 2011:
• Sep 21, 2011: Jamaica: PNP mum on Craighead by-election, Jamaica Observer (2011) The Opposition people's National Party has not yet disclosed whether they will be constesting the upcoming local government by-election in the Craighead Electoral Division in the Manchester North East Constituency. The division is traditionally a ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) stronghold. The by-election follows the death in early July of Barrington Miller, a retired teacher who had represented the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) as parish councillor in the Craighead Division since 1990.
• Aug 22, 2011: Jamaica: Lies, exaggeration, excesses too popular in Jamaican political ads, says lobby group, Jamaica Observer 2011 A lobby group, Jamaicans United for Sustainable Development (JUSD), is calling for the regulation of political campaign advertising. The JUSD has outlined a series of recommendation in a document submitted to the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), in hopes that it will help to inform the effort now underway to make legislative changes to political party funding.
• Jun 10, 2011: Jamaica:ECJ to get power to prescribe electoral boundaries, Jamaica Information Service (2011) The Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) now has the powers to prescribe electoral division boundaries, and prohibit the publication of a new list of electors between nomination day and Election Day, following parliament's adoption of a proposal to amend the existing legislation.
• May 30, 2011: Jamaica:Politicians face major battle to repair public image ahead of next general elections, Jamaica Observer (2011) A recent study indicates there has been a decline in Jamaicans level of trust in politicians following the recent Dudus/Manatt Inquiry.
• May 26, 2011: Jamaica: PNP shuffles team - Phillips returns, Waite out, Jamaica Observer (2011) Jamaica's Opposition People's National Party has announced a reshuffling of its shadow cabinet, ahead of the general elections constitutionally due in 2012.
• May 26, 2011:
• May 17, 2011: Jamaica: Blaine’s NNC getting ready for 50,000-signature drive, Jamaica Observer (2011) Leader of Jamaica's most recently formed political party, New Nation Coalition (NNC), Betty Ann Blaine, says the party will in next few weeks embark on a massive islandwide drive to secure the 50,000 signatures needed to qualify for state funding.
• May 16, 2011: Jamaica:Corporate area Labourites say Bruce Golding for 2012, Jamaica (2011) THE ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) on Sunday kicked off its Corporate Area campaign for the 2012 general elections. The Party has pledged its support behind current leader and Prime Minister Bruce Golding.
• May 16, 2011:
• May 16, 2011: Jamaica:JLP sending women to undo Phillips, Thwaites, Jamaica Observer (2011) Jamaica's incumbent political party, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has unveiled two female challengers for parliamentary seats currently held by the People's National Party (PNP) in the Central Kingston and East Central St Andrew constituencies for the pending 2012 General Elections.
• May 16, 2011: Jamaica: Knight shining off PNP armour for elections, Jamaica Observer (2011) The lead attorney representing the People's National Party (PNP) at the recent Dudus/Manatt enquiry wants to use his new found popularity to help return the opposition PNP to power. The Dudus/Manatt enquiry was launched to investigate the handling of the extradition of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke by the ruling Jamaica Labour Party administration.
• May 16, 2011:
• May 12, 2011:
• May 06, 2011: Jamaica:ECJ Chairman dismisses claims of ineligibility to serve on Commission The Chairman of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), Professor Errol Miller, is dismissing claims made by a member of parliament that a commissioner on that body holds foreign residency, and as such is ineligible to serve.
• Apr 26, 2011: New powers for Electoral Commission of Jamaica, Jamaica Gleaner, 2011 The House of Parliament has approved recommendations made by the Electoral Commission of Jamaica to grant the Commission the legal powers to prescribe electoral division boundaries.
• Feb 10, 2011:
• Dec 21, 2010: Jamaican election held over citizenship dispute, The Washington Post (2010) This article reports on the by-election in Jamaica. The by-election was called after a governing lawmaker revealed that she held U.S. citizenship, and consequently had to step down. As a matter of fact, according to the law, legislators with allegiance to a non-Commonwealth country are prohibited from serving in the parliament. This rule was ignored for decades, but in recent times the tensions between the ruling Labor Party and the opposition intensified. The by-election will be crucial for the government to maintain its slim majority in the parliament (31-28).
• Jun 17, 2010: Jamaica: Local elections postponed, Jamaica Observer (2010) This article reports on government's decision to postpone the local elections in Jamaica until next year. Elections were due this month, but the government believes that there should be a local government reform first. The opposition People's National Party strongly disagrees with this decision.
• May 17, 2010:
• Sep 05, 2007: Jamaica set for wide-open poll, BBC (2007) This article describes the situation regarding the upcoming elections, that was postponed due to the ravages of hurricane Dean
• Sep 03, 2007: Jamaica: Hurricane delays general election, Angus Reid (2007) The Jamaican government announced the postponement of the election until Sept. 3, after the country was hit by Hurricane Dean.
• Sep 03, 2007: BBC News: Jamaica to decide on "woman power" (2007) This article highlights some gender specific issues for the upcoming election in Jamaica.