THE REASONS offered by Mr. Patterson for the postponing of the Local Government elections ring hollow. The Prime Minister offered a number of reasons in Parliament on Tuesday why the elections would be postponed. One reason was that the Act, which would grant Portmore municipality status had been referred to a joint select committee of Parliament after the Jamaica Labour Party raised concerns about some aspects of the Act. Another reason offered was the need for legislative reform to bring Local Government elections under the same system as that which governs general elections. A third reason is the presentation of the Budget that he said would be the focus of Parliamentarians.
Local Government elections have been twice postponed since they were due in September 2001, which has had the effect of extending the life of the present local authorities by one and a half years adding another half to the three-year term for which they were elected.
It was Mr. Patterson himself who said that there would be no further extensions, which meant that the elections would have been held by the end of March. Now he has gone back on his word and has said that legislation will be brought to Parliament to have the local polls held no later than the end of June. While we support the concept of granting municipality status to Portmore we believe it is a travesty to deny the rest of Jamaica the right to vote in Local Government elections because the legislation for Portmore would not be ready. As we understand it there is a provision in the proposed legislation that would allow the vote in Portmore to be held at a later date.
As to the second reason, the need for uniformity in the legislation for local and national polls, the administration has bungled. Somebody needs to explain to the country why the legislation governing both elections was not brought to Parliament in one package.
The perceived conflict between the Local Government polls and the presentation of the Budget is hardly worth mentioning. The period in which the Budget debate falls is well known and Mr. Patterson ought to have been aware of this when he said last year that there would be no further extensions, which placed the time of the polls at the end of March.
There is already far too much cynicism among the general public about the electoral system and the exercise of the right to vote, borne out by the extremely low voter turnout in recent elections.
Mr. Patterson and his administration ought to be aware that fiddling with the electoral system will only add to that cynicism.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
