Accompong electoral panel vows Friday nominations go ahead despite Supreme Court stay

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Organisers behind nomination day in Accompong, St Elizabeth insist Friday’s programme will run as arranged even though the Supreme Court has paused the wider electoral timetable.

On Wednesday, Justice N Hart-Hines issued an interim order stopping both nomination activities and the eventual polling day until 10 June 2026, or until an amended claim comes before the bench.

Meredith Rowe, once a colonel in Accompong and now an aspirant for office in a contest that fell due on 18 February, brought the court challenge. He maintains Colonel Richard Currie has shaped arrangements without adequate notice to others who might stand, and has framed guidelines that favour his own aims. Rowe has also called it absurd to fix nomination day for Friday while the register of electors remained unfinished.

In a statement issued Friday, the Accompong Electoral Committee said press coverage first alerted it that the Supreme Court had stepped into what it calls an autonomous ballot inside the Sovereign State of Accompong. Members said they were taken aback that the judge granted relief when pleadings themselves recognise Maroons as a people who govern themselves.

The Full Maroon Council, described in the release as the competent authority under the Accompong Constitution, backed the view that the vote remains free of outside direction. The Electoral Committee, formed under the ratified 2022 Constitution of the Sovereign State of Accompong and led by Clavi Johnson as chair while he heads the Board of Elders, relies on that mandate.

After weighing guidance from lawyers at home and abroad, the panel believes nominations slated for 15 May 2026 ought still to take place.

It turned attention to Rowe, contending he falls short of constitutional criteria requiring contenders to have lived in Accompong or neighbouring districts without break for no fewer than three years beforehand.

“Mr Rowe’s eligibility status is therefore questionable even with the declaration of this injunction,” the committee said.

It argued that someone whose right to run remains doubtful ought not hold up what it termed a constitutionally mandated exercise anticipated by a large Maroon electorate.

“To subject the independent electoral traditions and governance of Accompong to external jurisdictional interference would dishonour the sacrifices, struggles and legacy of our ancestors who fought to preserve Maroon sovereignty and self-determination. This is a culturally sensitive matter that must be given the highest regard and respect as it relates to our indigenous traditions,” it added.

The Full Maroon Council together with the Accompong Electoral Committee pledged to safeguard electoral machinery and to uphold Maroon sovereign entitlements.