Governor-General Sir Patrick Allen has appointed Member of Parliament Everald Warmington as a Nominated Commissioner on the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), effective February 1, 2026. The appointment was made on the advice of Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who leads the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
Warmington succeeds Senator Thomas Tavares-Finson KC, who retired on January 31 after representing the JLP on the commission for two decades.
He joins Dr Aundre Franklin, the other Nominated Commissioner representing the Prime Minister.
The ECJ is made up of nine members: four Selected (Independent) Commissioners, four Nominated Commissioners—two representing the Prime Minister and two representing the Leader of the Opposition—and the Director of Elections. Opposition Leader Mark Golding’s nominees are Dr Dayton Campbell, the People’s National Party’s general secretary, and Maureen Webber, who replaced Wensworth Skeffery in 2025.
Warmington, MP for St Catherine South Western and a former government minister, has previously advocated for electoral reforms, including the removal of salaries for political representatives on the ECJ. Asked if he would accept the commissioner salary, he told The Gleaner on Wednesday, “Whatever changes I asked for in Parliament, they were not accepted. That’s all I’m gonna say.”
Under current ECJ policy, commissioners who are also parliamentarians receive the difference between their parliamentary salary and the ECJ commissioner salary, which is pegged to the earnings of Supreme Court judges. This payment is in addition to their parliamentary salary. Currently, the basic annual salary for a Member of Parliament is about $14.2 million, while Supreme Court judges earn approximately $25.7 million.
Warmington said his primary focus as a commissioner will be to “assist in upholding the integrity of the electoral system in this country.”
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