THE Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) says it needs $4.2 billion to carry out its duties this year, including $2 billion for voter reverification and $1.2 billion to finance local government elections expected to be held by June.

At the same time, commissioners, in an apparent response to criticisms from the parliamentary Opposition, said yesterday that they have no intention of opening themselves up to the label of “negligent” if another budget allocation failed to meet their targeted costs, including the overdue house-to-house voter reverification.

Director of Elections Orrette Fisher, addressing a press conference yesterday at its offices on Red Hills Road in St Andrew, said that last year the ECJ sought some $3 billion in budget funding, including the $2 billion for the reverification, but only received $700 million or approximately 30 per cent of the budget they needed to carry out the necessary tasks.

However, ECJ Chairman Dorothy Pine-McLarty said that while the commission has been hampered by the lack of funding, she had been assured by the Government that this year funds would be made available for the reverification.

Commissioners said that for the fiscal year 2015/16, they expect the budget to include the $3 billion needed for expenses during the next financial year, including the $2-billion funding for a new voters’ list, as well as the $1.2 billion needed to finance local government elections. However, they admitted that the election cost would be subject to whether the Government intends to call the local government elections within the constitutional period.

“The absence of money renders the ECJ ineffective and inefficient and the commissioners have no intention to be negligent, and we will use whatever opportunities to get the word out and to pressure for the appropriate funding for the organisation,” said Commissioner Earl Jarrett.

“The truth is that we do know that Jamaica is going through difficult economic times, but notwithstanding that, the ECJ is a creature of the people, as passed by law in Parliament, and as I said, we have been living on 30 per cent of our budget requirement. I believe that it is the will of the people to have the ECJ properly funded,” Jarrett stated.

He added that the commission intends to use its current funding for public education to drive home these facts to the public, with the support of the media.

“I think that our job is to do what we are doing now, to let you know so that we report back to the people that we are having difficulties so that the people, through their representatives in every corner of Jamaica and every polling division will make it clear that that must be among the priorities,” he added.

The commission said that it intends to proceed with the reverification exercise this year as, for some time, it has acknowledged the need to remove ineligible people from the list.

The ECJ said it also expects to deal with the situation which has developed in Portmore, with residents in two electoral divisions not being able to vote for the mayor of the municipality because the divisions fall outside the municipal boundaries.

Fisher said that the municipal boundaries have to be adjusted to include both divisions, but stated that there is a legal requirement for a petition to be signed by at least seven per cent, or 6,480 of the 92,567 electors living in the affected area.

In response to that need, the ECJ has scheduled petition-signing sessions at 12 locations in the proposed area of the municipality on February 21. The petition-signing sessions are expected to cost $1 million and the boundaries review about $4 million.

The commission is also planning to realign some areas of the country where constituencies have moved across parish boundaries, as well as North East St Andrew, which is below the bottom limit of 18,398.34 voters.