Thompson

The Election Comission of Jamaica, (ECJ) says it is ready for any by-election, but question marks surround its readiness for a general election.

The Supreme Court has ruled that a by-election should be held in the West Portland seat and the Government has said if Abe Dabdoub drops his appeal the people of the constituency could be asked to elect a member of parliament by the end of May.

No problem

That should not be a problem for the ECJ which says its machinery is in place and only a few minor changes would be necessary.

Independent member of the ECJ, Dr Herbert Thompson, on Wednesday declared that the Electoral Office of Jamaica would be ready for any by-election.

However, the same cannot be said about a general election.

According to Thompson, the ECJ is now conducting a review of the constituency boundaries to determine which, if any, breach the upper or lower limit of electors.

This process is expected to continue until the next voters list is released on May 31 and could result in changes to some constituency boundaries.

Already the ECJ suspects that one constituency in St. Andrew and another in St Catherine have breached the limit on the number of electors.

The Government has already warned that it will not rule out the possibility of an early general election as a response to the potential crisis being fuelled by the removal of Daryl Vaz and attempts to unseat other Government MPs alleged to have dual citizenship.

No other option

According to JLP General Secretary Karl Samuda, the People's National Party (PNP) could leave the prime minister with no option but to call an early election.

The PNP has said it would be ready to contest an early general election.