The Electoral Commission (EC), which replaces the Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC) in advising the director of elections on the performance of his functions under the Representation of the People Act, will start its operation today.

Eight members of the commission were handed their instruments of appointment, by Governor-General Prof Kenneth Hall, at a function at King’s House on Wednesday.

The ninth member will be Danville Walker, who had been director of elections under the EAC and will retain his position, which ensures his appointment as a commissioner.

The commission includes one new face in retired judge of the Court of Appeal, Justice Clarence Walker, who is one of four selected members. The ninth member should be current director of elections, Danville Walker, who is expected to be reappointed to that post, which automatically makes him a commissioner, when the commission has its first meeting.

The other selected members are Professor Errol Miller, former EAC chairman; Dr Herbert Thompson and Dorothy Pine-McLarty.

The nominated members are People’s National Party (PNP) representatives Donald Buchanan and Linton Walters; and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) representatives Karl Samuda and Tom Tavares-Finson.

Buchanan and Samuda are both general secretaries of their respective political parties, while both Walters and Tavares-Finson are attorneys-at-law.

Professor Miller, who had been chairman of the EAC, is also expected to be named chairman of the new Commission.

Speaking after the formalities at King’s House, Leader of the Opposition Bruce Golding said that the EAC had not only been involved in the engagement of civil society, but was also a balancing force between competing political forces.

“What we have is no longer an advisory committee whose advice can be ignored or rejected, because the provision in law was that the director of elections was not obliged to accept the advice of the committee. He could reject that advice. He was only obliged to advise Parliament that he had done so,” Golding said.

Minister of National Security Dr Peter Phillips, who also has responsibility for electoral matters, represented Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller who was absent from the function.

Dr Phillips said that the relative weight of the political appointees, vis-a-vis the selected members, has now decisively shifted in favour of civil society, as distinct from the political parties.

“I think that is a signal development to be applauded, and indeed recognises one simple, pertinent fact, and that is that the electoral system belongs to the entire country and not to the political parties,” he said.