The Electoral Commission of Jamaica, ECJ, says it is 98 percent ready for the holding of the Special Service General Election on Monday, August 31, 2020, and the Civilian General Elections on September 3, 2020.
This after a meeting of the full commission today.
Chairman of the ECJ, Earl Jarrett told Nationwide News on Monday, that a decision would have been made at today’s meeting on whether to advise that the elections be postponed or left unchanged.
In a statement today, the ECJ says it’s confident of managing the upcoming General Elections guided by established protocols derived from the World Health Organization, WHO’s COVID-19 Protocols and Standards.
It’s also being guided by the outcome of meetings with the Health and Wellness Ministry and the Attorney General’s Office.
The ECJ says to ensure the safety of the electorate it has established a COVID 19 Protocol for Conducting National Election, which will see the deployment of 7-thousand-400 sanitation officers and sanitization clerks.
It says those officers and clerks will be dedicated to ensuring the sanitization of the voting process across the 2-thousand-200 polling station locations.
The Commission notes the established protocols will see the use of mandatory thermometer checks, wearing of masks, continuous sanitization procedures, social distancing and the single use of voting pencils by electors.
The ECJ’s also committing to ensure a free, fair and safe General Elections 2020.
Calls placed to the Chairman of the ECJ this afternoon for a formal comment on the decision went unanswered.
