REJECTED

Parliament’s Constituency Boundaries Committee has rejected a proposal by government lawmaker Everald Warmington to have the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) use the Portmore parish boundaries to finalise the next voters’ list for the May 31 deadline.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Fitz Jackson, member of parliament for St Catherine Southern, sharply responded, “You must be crazy!” to Warmington’s suggestion.

The next general election is constitutionally due within five months, and it is expected that Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness will announce the date after the list is published.

The committee, however, agreed to send the Portmore parish law and recent court orders to the ECJ, to seek its opinion on how the constituency boundaries should be adjusted to accommodate the elevation of the city municipality in St Catherine to a parish. An update is expected by May 31.

The ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) have been bitterly divided over the process being used to make Portmore into the country’s 15th parish, with the PNP claiming that the Government is engaging in “political gerrymandering”.

At Tuesday’s meeting, committee chairman Juliet Holness initially proposed submitting last week’s Supreme Court orders to the ECJ, to begin the process of adjusting boundaries. The orders stemmed from a lawsuit filed by PNP officials over the Portmore parish law. Chief Justice Bryan Sykes had granted a consent order, with the Government assuring it would comply with Section 67 of the Constitution before enforcing the new parish law.

However, Warmington said what Holness proposed was not sufficient “because the ruling must be based on something”. He suggested that the Portmore parish law, formally the Counties and Parishes (Amendment) Act, 2025, and its accompanying map and boundaries for Portmore, be sent too.

“I think we should add on that to that recommendation to them, that this be included in the voters’ list coming in May ... . Until that is done, this is of no use,” he said.

This proposal was immediately rejected by opposition members, with government member Edmund Bartlett emphasising that Parliament’s role was simply to forward the act to the ECJ for its advice. He also noted that the situation was a rarity, as it was the first time since 1867 that Parliament was establishing a new parish.

“There’s no precedent. And the parliament, having passed the bill and the act now being in a position to be fully implemented, we have one responsibility, and that is to forward the act,” said Bartlett.

He added that the ECJ was entrusted with determining constituency boundaries, with Parliament later reviewing its advice.

Holness rejected Warmington’s suggestion “that we insist on certain considerations”, stating, “I won’t even repeat it.”

Ultimately, the committee voted unanimously to send the court orders and Portmore parish law to the ECJ for consideration, with a deadline for feedback by May 31.

Warmington’s push to include Portmore’s parish boundaries in the voters’ list follows public statements in November 2023 when he claimed the boundary shift would benefit the JLP.

Then a cabinet minister, he asserted that the expected boundary shift would create a JLP stronghold in St Catherine East Central, now represented by the JLP’s Alando Terrelonge.

“When we tek Portmore off of St Catherine, is a different ball game ... . It means that under no circumstances PNP can ever win the St Catherine Parish Council again. Never again,” he said.

The Portmore parish boundary excludes several communities that historically voted for the PNP. Most of the communities are located in constituencies represented by Terrelonge and Jackson.

“We have the boundary that we wanted all along,” Warmington said then.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Dr Derrick McKoy reminded the committee that the ECJ’s responsibility “is just to advise” on constituency boundaries.

“You defer to it to advise you, and you will accept or reject the advice it gives. The Parliament makes the decision as to what the boundaries are,” he said.

Notwithstanding Parliament’s authority, a longstanding convention, credited with reducing political violence, has been to accept recommendations from the ECJ, whose commissioners include representatives from the JLP and the PNP.

Former ECJ Chairman Professor Errol Miller has stated that Portmore cannot officially become a parish before February 2026, because of constitutional review requirements.

“If there is compliance with the Constitution of Jamaica, then the earliest time that Portmore can become a parish is February 2026. This is because the Constitution of Jamaica is pellucidly specific as to when electoral boundaries must be changed, which is during a two- to four-year period of general review, (which is) four years after the last period of general review. The last general review ended in February 2022,” he said in an opinion published on his blog in March.

Four PNP officials, including MP Jackson, filed a lawsuit against the Government last month, arguing that enforcing the law prematurely would cause “potentially irreparable constitutional breaches” and “violations of the structure of local governance”.

The Opposition had relied on concerns raised by the ECJ, which, in February, warned Parliament that the proposed parish boundary “may negatively affect” the constitutional provision prohibiting constituencies from crossing parish lines.

According to the ECJ, the proposed boundary would impact four constituencies, 13 electoral divisions, and 398 polling divisions from the parish of St Catherine.

The Government, however, has maintained that the Portmore parish law was only about creating a parish. It also said it had sought responses from the ECJ multiple times since June 2024 but had yet to receive updates.

editorial@gleanerjm.com