WALKER
DIRECTOR OF Elections, Danville Walker, has rejected allegations by the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) that 1,032 names were left off the June 16 voters' list.
In a release yesterday, Mr. Walker said following investigations by the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ), it has been so far discovered that only 15 names have not been accounted for on the list.
According to the EOJ, of the 1,032 names the JLP claimed had been left off the list, 378 were submitted without sufficient data for investigation by the EOJ. In the meantime, Mr. Walker says more particulars on the claims,have been requested from JLP General Secretary, Karl Samuda.
According to Mr. Walker, of the 654 remaining names, 497 have been fully researched and it has been determined that 377 are already on the voters' list, while 89 were never verified. Sixteen persons were dead or removed as duplicates.
UPDATED VERSION
The Director of Elections also said 15 names among those submitted by the JLP will be added to the June 16, 2006 voters' list. Rule 38 of the Second Schedule of the Representation of the People Act empowers the Director of Elections to add the names of persons who were reverified, but who were inadvertently left off the voters' list, up to five days before nomination day.
On the June 16 voters' list, 1,259,790 names were included. However, an updated version will be published by the EOJ on July 19.
In the meantime, Mr. Walker is maintaining that the current list is credible. "All electors who were reverified are supposed to be on the June 16 voters' list and we are confident that this is above 99.5 per cent correct."
At the same time, he says persons who were reverified and whose names do not appear on the list should call or visit their nearest constituency office.
To facilitate the inclusion of their names on the voters' list, each elector will have to produce his/her reverification receipt, during the visit to the constituency office.
