KINGSTON, Jamaica – Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate Tom Tavares Finson is today calling for a fixed election date.

The senator said in a release that this will be “a means of ensuring that Jamaicans who want to vote are not disenfranchised by the whims and fancies or the touch of any prime minister’s master”.

Tavares Finson yesterday noted that approximately 37, 000 people are to be added to the new voters list, which will be published on November 30.

“The majority of these persons are young people who took the time to go to the electoral office, take their photographs and gave their fingerprint all in an effort to participating for the first time in the electoral process,” he expressed. 

The Opposition senator further explained that: “Should the Prime Minister announce a nomination day before the 6th day of December 2015, these 37000 people will be disenfranchised. Simply by announcing an election a few days early, the prime minister has in her power the ability to disqualify these 37,000 from participating in the democratic process.”

He said, “Many persons who have enumerated and who think they can vote in the upcoming elections may very well find themselves not on the list that the prime minister chooses to use.”

Tavares Finson was adamant that no scheme should be hatched that would seek to disenfranchise any Jamaican from the process.

“A fixed election date would mean that there is proper alignment of the enumeration period and elections. We also know that disenfranchising 37000 young Jamaicans will not contribute to bringing more people closer to participation and contribute to the distrust and apathy Jamaicans has towards to process,” he reasoned.

Meanwhile, the senator noted that the JLP had put forward a fixed election proposal in its manifesto for the last election and would be seeking to implement when elected.

He said, “We had this in our 2011 manifesto and we will have it in the new manifesto. This is a policy that is fundamental to a Jamaica Labour party governance approach; a modern approach that is people – centred in a real sense and puts the interest of Jamaica above party, individuals or masters.”