AGITATION BY the Parliamentary Opposition over the Prime Minister's initial delay in calling a by-election in western Kingston to fill the vacancy left by Edward Seaga has turned the spotlight on the role and function of the Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC).
We are of the view that the calling of parliamentary and municipal by-elections should be the purview of a properly constituted electoral body rather than depend on the whims and fancy of a Prime Minister, or Local Government Minister in the case of a vacancy at the parish council level.
However, before the EAC is given these powers the body needs to be reconstituted into a more permanent body such as a commission. In order to achieve permanence, and remain above political machination, the electoral commission should be entrenched in the Constitution.
This would prevent any government from easily abolishing an electoral oversight body that falls out of its favour.
During its 26 years of operation, the EAC, in tandem with the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) has increasingly taken on more technical and administrative duties over time.
In addition, the EAC has developed expertise in overseeing the preparation and holding of national elections, as ably demonstrated in the 2002 parliamentary elections, which local and international observer groups scored favourably. So respected is the EAC/EOJ that one political party has contracted it to conduct their internal elections in the past, and public confidence in the EAC/EOJ is high.
We believe, therefore, that the time has come for the EAC to become a commission and be entrenched in the Constitution as was mooted at its inception and subsequently in multi-party talks on constitutional reform.
Transforming the EAC into an Electoral Commission is made easy by the fact that the Committee has developed a body of best practices and a modus operandi that only now needs to be codified and made the basis of an operational manual for the proposed commission.
These practices include the appointment of non-political representatives by the Governor General, the appointment of two alternate representatives by major political parties and the establishment of a process, through the Constituted Authority, to address election disputes.
Furthermore, there is the complementary institution of the Political Ombudsman who, we suggest, should sit on the Electoral Commission. A place should also be reserved for a local election observer group.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
