The People's National Party (PNP) has denied that the Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC) has undertaken to reprint ballot papers for the forthcoming general elections on the urging of the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

PNP general secretary, Senator Maxine Henry-Wilson, led a cadre of PNP administrators who appeared at a hastily convened press conference at PNP headquarters yesterday to respond to the JLP allegations that security for ballot papers at the Electoral Office had been breached by the PNP, who intended to rig the elections.

She said the JLP move was nothing more than another attempt to delay and discredit the electoral process and would not distract the PNP from the campaign trail. However, she said at a meeting of the EAC yesterday, the PNP team immediately joined in the call for a full investigation into the matter.

Both Mrs. Henry-Wilson and deputy general secretary, Donald Buchanan, charged that JLP deputy chairman, Ryan Peralto, another EAC member, spent about five hours at the Electoral Office yesterday, leaving after 7:00 p.m., and he made no mention of a problem with ballots. This, they said, they found questionable, because a letter from Mr. Peralto to the EAC yesterday indicated that the mystery ballots were discovered in a package not addressed to the JLP, which was delivered among others intended for the party last Thursday. The same letter, they claimed, indicated that the contents of the package were discovered close to 3:00 p.m. on Monday.

They said the letter from Mr. Peralto alleged that 250 ballots were discovered, but Mr. Seaga spoke of 150 ballots.

The PNP General Secretary said, under the circumstances, her party has no objection to having the ballots reprinted, which can be done locally in time for next Thursday's polls.

She said the question of reprinting the ballots was a matter for the Director of Elections and the EAC to determine. She said the independent (non-party) members of the EAC had held responsibility for the ballot processing exercise and had expressed no reservations about its handling.