The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is mounting a CARICOM Electoral Observer Mission to monitor the general elections to be held in Jamaica, Thursday 25 February 2016.
The Mission is being headed by Ms. Josephine Tamai, Chief Elections Officer, Elections and Boundaries Department, Belize.
The other members of the Mission comprise experts in electoral management and administration from Barbados, The Bahamas, Dominica, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Members of the Mission and the CARICOM Secretariat Support Staff were scheduled to begin arriving in Jamaica from 21 February and will depart by 27 February.
The CARICOM Electoral Observer Mission will meet with Jamaican electoral officials, leaders of political parties and other stakeholders. On the day of the Elections, the Mission will monitor the electoral process including the opening of the Poll, the voting process, the closing of the Poll and the counting of the ballots.
The Observer Mission will issue a preliminary statement based on its observations and findings. A Report of the General Elections will be subsequently prepared and submitted to the CARICOM Secretary General.
For CARICOM, election observation serves as a platform to support existing democratic traditions within the Caribbean Community as part of its wider policy of supporting democracy.
