ELECTION watchdog Citizens Action for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE) says it is extremely concerned that the lion’s share of its observers were “prevented from witnessing the final count” of ballots at polling stations after voting in Monday’s local government elections.

“It is the right of electors to witness this process, and the mistaken position taken by some EOJ [Electoral Office of Jamaica] officials does not bode well for the transparent process of free and fair elections,” CAFFE Chair Grace Baston said in a statement issued to the media Monday night.

CAFFE had deployed 38 non-partisan roving observers and 339 indoor observers to polling stations covering all 14 parishes in the island on Monday. In the statement issued some minutes after 8:00 pm the watchdog group said in 11 per cent of “polling stations reported on, observers were not permitted to monitor the final count”.

CAFFE said even while it congratulated Electoral Commission of Jamaica for the effective organisation of the local government election, it remains concerned that “officials in the electoral system continue to place obstacles in the way of its ability to fully monitor and report on the conduct of the elections”.

“Many of our volunteers were ejected from polling stations throughout the day or placed in positions where they could not effectively observe what was taking place,” CAFFE complained.

It, however, said from what its officials observed, the voting and counting process for the balance of election day proceeded with normality.

“No incidents observed materially affected the results of the elections. The elections were conducted freely and transparently,” the organisation said.

CAFFE said that based on the 75 per cent of observer reports received up to news time, in 14 per cent of the polling stations reported on there was some interruption of the voting process. CAFFE said it would be making efforts to obtain the particulars of these incidents. It, in the meantime, also said 94 per cent of polling stations reported on said there were no irregularities, such as incidents of open voting, failures of presiding officers to properly identify electors, and inconsistent use of integrity lamps.

The group further said that in seven per cent of polling stations reported on, political party agents contested the preliminary count, and that in 93 per cent of the polling stations security personnel were present up to the end of the preliminary count. It further noted that in 87 per cent of polling stations reported on, ballot boxes were escorted from the polling stations by the security forces.

At the start of the voting exercise on Monday CAFFE, in a preliminary report, said 91 per cent of polling stations opened on schedule at 7:00 am, and more than 99 per cent of all polling stations had the proper materials in place to ensure a smooth voting process. However, the organisation said that it received reports of seven cases in which voters were intimidated but said there was no associated violence.

Since being founded in 1997, CAFFE has monitored general elections of 1997, 2002, 2007, 2011, 2016 and 2020; the local government elections of 1998, 2003, 2007, 2012 and 2016; as well as several by-elections and re-runs.