Judge asked to quash ECJ's decision to terminate acting director's services

Lawyers for acting Director of Elections Orrette Fisher this morning asked a High Court judge to quash the decision of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) to terminate his services.

The request was made by attorney-at-law Hugh Wildman in the Supreme Court as a judicial review of the ECJ's decision got underway.

Fisher was first appointed Director of Elections in 2008.

At the end of his seven-year tenure he was appointed to act in the post for one year in 2015 and 2016.

In October 2017 he was informed by chairman of the ECJ Dorothy Pine McLarty that his services would be terminated.

However, Wildman, in his legal submission this morning, argued that the decision taken by McClarty goes outside the ambit of the Electoral Commission Interim Act and interferes with Fisher's tenure.

"We believe it ought to be quashed by the court. And we are asking for a declaration to that effect and an order of certiorari quashing said decision," Wildman said.