MILLER. what we have received is money that will allow us to buy all the supplies

THE government has released money to the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ), which will now allow the elections body to get its voting machinery ready.

Sources told the Observer that more than $100 million was allocated to the EOJ for elections.

Professor Errol Miller, the chairman of the Electoral Advisory Committee, while confirming that money was allocated to the EOJ, was, however, unable to say what was the amount received.

"I know we have received money, and I know what we told them we needed. But I just came off the plane at 12:00 noon and I tried to call (Danville) Walker (the EOJ head) who is in Montego Bay. So I would have to check the figures to tell you," the EAC chairman said.

A $113-million budget, Prof Miller said, was submitted to government as the sum needed to run an election.
"What is due is local government elections. As you know, it should have been held in June but it was put off until December. We are duty-bound to prepare for that. But when the budget was prepared for this fiscal year, there was no provision in it for elections. That is what the EAC made representation about, and that has now been rectified.," Professor Miller told the Observer.

"What we have received is money that would allow us to buy the (ballot) paper, ink, the lamps, all the supplies, do the proprietary things, training, etc. So we will not enter into any speculations, but we have a duty to be ready. And the truth of the matter is whether it is a local election or national election, it costs the same," added the EAC chairman.

The general election is not due until next year, but with the ruling People's National Party (PNP) losing ground, according to the recent Stone Polls published in the Observer, it is widely expected that Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller will call the election this year.

The PNP leader gave the clearest indication Thursday that she was putting the party in election mode when she summoned all MPs, caretakers and councillors to a meeting in Kingston on Monday. That meeting is being held just days before the PNP's annual conference, which Simpson Miller will address for the first time as party president and prime minister. She won the February presidential election and was sworn in as prime minister at the end of March, replacing P J Patterson, who retired from politics.

The Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), in the meantime, has been on the campaign trail for several months as well as preparing party workers for elections.

The PNP, in power since February 1989, will be seeking a fifth term, while the JLP, which last held power between 1980 and 1989, will be working hard to end its political drought with its new leader Bruce Golding.

Feeding the multitude

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