June 21, 2024

Eligible Jamaicans were encouraged to vote so that they could participate in Jamaica’s transition from a constitutional monarchy to a republic.

“It will be a gradual process; please pay close attention to what is happening,” Law and Constitutional Affairs Minister Marlene Malahu Forte said Wednesday at the 10th Biennial Diaspora Conference at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James. She stressed that it was time for “the Jamaican head of state to represent the Jamaican nation and Jamaican identity.”

“Another goal we seek to achieve is to have the Jamaican Parliament adopt and the Jamaican people ratify, the Constitution of Jamaica, which is the supreme law of the land,” said Malahu Forte. The process for Jamaica’s transition from a constitutional monarchy to a republic will include a two-thirds majority vote in Parliament as well as a referendum. In addition, the Constitutional Reform Commission is in the process of preparing instructions for the drafting of substantive bills to enable Jamaica to transition from a constitutional monarchy to a republic.