Nomination Day activities for the September 3 general election are in high gear, with more than 180 people expected to become candidates after today.
Director of Elections Glasspole Brown says this estimate is based on the number of nomination forms collected.
The Electoral Office of Jamaica says the potential candidates should include a mix of representatives from the four registered political parties, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), People’s National Party (PNP), United Independents’ Congress (UIC), Jamaica Progressive Party (JPP) as well as independents.
The newly formed Jamaica First Movement has joined forces with the JPP to contest the election.
Nomination of candidates for the general election started at 10 a.m. and will end at 2 p.m., while nominations for the local government by-elections in four divisions will be accepted from noon to 2 p.m.
Nomination fees, which are to be paid in banknotes, will go to the Accountant General’s Department.
Mr. Brown, who was speaking Monday on TVJ’s Smile Jamaica, said that the EOJ held sensitisation meetings with the potential candidates prior to Nomination Day.
PNP and JLP leaders nominated
People’s National Party leader Mark Golding has been nominated to defend his St. Andrew Southern seat.
Mr. Golding, who is the sixth PNP President, arrived at St. Luke’s Church in Crossroads at 9:35 a.m. and was nominated at 10:07.
He paid the $15,000 nomination fee in $500 notes to returning officer Janet Coleman-Howlett.
Mr. Golding was elected member of a Parliament for St. Andrew Southern in a by-election in 2017 and is running for the first time as MP and President of the PNP.
“I have to try my best to deliver a national victory, not just a constituency victory. So fortunately, the constituents, the voters, the residents are very understanding of that and they like to see the way the party has been moving forward so powerfully in recent times. Everybody is very happy about that. So they give me the necessary flexibility so that I can equip my responsibilities at the national level while also representing them as best I can,” he explained.
Following his nomination, Mr. Golding exited the churchyard onto Studio 1 Boulevard and was welcomed by a sea of orange-clad supporters.
“We have been duly nominated and we are now ready to claim the victory on the third of September. Now, Comrades, I’m asking us please, let us not take anything for granted. Let us not assume we win already. We will not win until every ballot is counted; every vote has to count and I’m asking each of you to make sure that on election day you come out and put your ‘X’ squarely beside the head so that Mark Jefferson golding can go back to Gordon House as your representative and as Prime Minister of Jamaica, to take Jamaica forward and build a better life,” he urged.
Prime Minister and Leader of the JLP, Dr. Andrew Holness, was nominated at 1 p.m. in his St. Andrew West Central constituency at 104 Bay Farm Road.
Meanwhile, the Jamaica Progressive Party is hoping to have at least 50 candidates in the general election.
Robert Rainford, General Secretary of the country’s fourth registered party, said the JPP has encountered some logistical issues which will see a reduction in the previously anticipated 60 nominations.
“We may come in a litte lower than that because of some last minute issues, but we are hopeful that the minimum that we’ll have is 50. We’re having some challenges but we’re still pushing out there. It’s not too late. Nomination finishes at 2 o’clock and we want to make sure that those we can get in [are] there,” he said Monday while speaking on the Morning Agenda on Power 106.