EAC wants harsher fines for electoral fraud
THE Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC) is seeking parliamentary approval to introduce harsher penalties for electoral offences ahead of local government elections due next month.
In a report tabled in the House of Representatives last week, the EAC recommended significant increases in fines and prison terms for a range of electoral breaches that fall under the Kingston and St Andrew Act and the Parish Council Act. The Committee has asked the legislature to amend these acts to make them comparable to penalties and fees contained in the Representation of the People Act.
In addition to fines, the EAC has recommended an increase in the limit for campaign expenditure per candidate from $1,000 to $1 million and it has also proposed the increase of the nomination deposit per candidate from $100 to $3,000.
The EAC, which is chaired by Professor Errol Miller of the University of the West Indies, has proposed a maximum fine of $80,000 or maximum prison term of five years for election officials found guilty by a resident magistrate of interfering with an elector who is in the process of voting. Such a person, the EAC recommends, should be “disqualified from holding any post of election officer for a period not less than seven years from the date of conviction”.
According to the electoral authority, persons who congregate near a polling station and possess a “weapon or noxious substance” which can be harmful to members of the security forces, should be punished with imprisonment for a maximum of five years and/or charged a maximum fine of $80,000.
The proposed penalty for persons who issue false statements to a returning officer is “imprisonment with hard labour for a term not exceeding three years”. Additionally, the person is subject to pay a maximum fine of $20,000.
Below are some of the offences and maximum fines being recommended by the EAC:
. Dereliction of duty by presiding officer – from $100 to $10,000
. Allowing elector to vote in wrong division – $10 to $10,000
. Bribery – $1,000 to $80,000
. Impersonation – $200 to $80,000
. False statements – $400 to $10,000
. Tampering with/destroying ballot papers – $1,000 to $80,000
. Obstructing election officers – $400 to $20,000
. Mutilation of electoral lists/notices – $50 to $10,000
. False statement to a returning officer – $400 to $20,000
. Prohibited person voting – $200 to $10,000
. Multiple voting – $200 to $80,000
. Electioneering by electoral officials – $100 to $20,000
. Congregating at polling station – $100 to $20,000
. Influencing of electors – $500 to $10,000
. Breach of secrecy by electoral official – maximum fine of $20,000
. Possessing weapons at polling station – maximum fine of $80,000
The EAC is comprised of three members selected by the governor-general, after consultation with the prime minister and the leader of the opposition, one of whom is the chairman of the body. The two other selected or independent members are Dr Herbert Thompson, president of Northern Caribbean University and Dorothy Pine-McLarty, an attorney-at-law.
In addition to the selected members, the committee is comprised of two representatives each of the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) and the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). Representing the PNP are Maxine Henry-Wilson and Linton Walters, while Ryan Peralto and Abe Dabdoub represent the JLP.
All committee members, including Danville Walker, director of election, signed the recent report to Parliament, signifying consensus on the proposed changes.