At least 150 candidates are likely to be nominated today for the February 25 general election, the 17th since Jamaica adopted universal adult suffrage in 1944.

The election was announced by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller on January 31, and since then both major political parties have stepped up campaigning, following a false start in late 2015.

Both the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) and the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) are expected to nominate candidates in all 63 constituencies, including Simpson Miller in St Andrew South Western and Opposition Leader Andrew Holness in St Andrew West Central.

For Simpson Miller, the election date marks the 10th anniversary of her historic election to the post of PNP president and her eventual elevation to the role of Jamaica’s first female prime minister.

For Holness and the JLP, February 24 would have been preferred because it marks the 131st anniversary of the birth of the party’s founder, the late National Hero Sir Alexander Bustamante. But Holness has insisted on the campaign trail that the party has no problem celebrating an election victory a day after marking the anniversary of Sir Alexander’s birth.

Parliament was dissolved on Friday, February 5, and will resume after the election with the swearing in of the 63 elected members of parliament (MPs).

But the real deal starts today with the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ)/Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) entering the fray, by staging the nomination of individualss who wish to contest the election in the 63 constituencies.

Nomination is the designated day for the official naming/selection of candidates to contest the elections. The law requires a minimum of 16 days before election day and a minimum of five clear days after the announcement.

The process, as provided for in the Representation of the People Act (ROPA), requires that people wishing to be nominated fill out a nomination form signed by 10 or more electors registered to vote in the constituency; they must return the form to the returning officer between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm today and pay a nomination fee of $3,000.

Chief Education Officer Grace McLean confirmed yesterday that public schools would have closed at midday yesterday and will remain closed throughout today to facilitate the process.

In addition to the 126 candidates from the PNP and the JLP expected to be nominated, at least another 25 candidates should arise from third parties, including the Marcus Garvey People’s Political Party, which is expected to field candidates in the Corporate Area, as well as Garvey’s home parish of St Ann; the National Democratic Movement, which had come the closest to establishing itself as a serious third party under the leadership of Bruce Golding, who eventually returned to the JLP and was prime minister between 2007 and 2011; and a number of independent candidates seeking to benefit from the growing mistrust of the major parties.

Indications are that, with increasing voter discontent across the island, the independents are expected to nominate at a record level with the St Elizabeth North Eastern seat being a signal battleground.

The PNP’s decision to replace incumbent Raymond Pryce with Evon Redman has already prompted two persons with umbilical links to that party to announce that they will be running as independents. These are Joseph Patterson, who has formed the United Independents’ Congress, and Delroy Slowley, who has been insisting that he will run as Independent PNP, a challenge the party sees as a misnomer.

Since then, the JLP has replaced its originally intended candidate, Rex Matthews, with a former Miss Jamaica Universe and a consultant psychiatrist with 16 years’ experience in that field of medicine, Dr Saphire Longmore, in a last-minute bid for the PNP stronghold.

Another last-minute entrant is expected to be Kerensia Morrison, a teacher, who will challenge the PNP’s Natalie Neita Headley

Other areas of interest are: St Andrew East Rural, where Holness’s wife Juliet, is expected to face Imani Duncan-Price, who hopes to start a Duncan Dynasty in the House of Representatives to replace the Peart Dynasty, which ended with the retirement of Michael Peart, former Speaker of the House and MP for Manchester Southern; St Thomas Eastern where the JLP’s Delano Seiveright is expected to challenge the PNP’s Dr Fenton Ferguson; St Elizabeth South Western, where former G2K president, Floyd Green (JLP) is expected to challenge incumbent Hugh Buchanan; and St James Central where former Speaker of the House, Lloyd B Smith, has left the seat to a close race between the PNP’s Ashley Ann Foster and the JLP’s Heroy Clarke.