THE Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) will begin distributing voters’ guides for the looming local government polls later this week, a process that is expected to take about a week to complete.

According to public information officer, Neville Graham, the EOJ is ready for the local government elections, with critical requirements such as the training of election day workers and voting paraphernalia already in place. EOJ representatives, he added, have scheduled some two to three parish meetings per week, with all the candidates from the respective parties as well as independents, to iron out any remaining problems.

There has been a decidedly low-key response, by the general public, to the impending elections which are due by the end of the month. General secretary of the ruling People’s National Party (PNP), Maxine Henry-Wilson said voter apathy was a major hurdle to overcome in the upcoming election which, she said, was an important one, particularly from the vantage point of local government reform.

Henry-Wilson said the PNP’s state of readiness for the local government election was “about 5 to 6 on a scale of one to 10”, but she expressed confidence in those already selected, noting that they had been exposed to a rigorous selection process.

Meanwhile, general secretary of the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party, Dr Ken Baugh, was satisfied with the preparedness of his party and that of the EOJ. He noted that all of the JLP’s 227 candidates were in place, following a selection process that had involved over 300 interviews of prospective candidates.

Dr Baugh said that except for a few minor details, his party was ready to contest the local poll and would soon be unveiling a strong platform of issues.