Jamaicans are still cleaning up after Hurricane's dean impact

Also, on the advice of Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, he has ordered that the State of Emergency be lifted.

All this follows five days of speculation about when the poll, originally scheduled for August 27, would take place after wind and rain from Hurricane Dean ripped through the island leaving major infrastructural damage.

The imposition of a one-month State of Emergency was also heavily criticised but Mrs Simpson Miller had said it was a necessary safeguard "to protect life and property" from criminals.

She had also said that the curfew would be reviewed "on a day-by-day basis."

Poll date

On Friday Danville Walker, the Director of Elections on Jamaica, told BBC Caribbean that "the Governor-General has advised me that he has signed a proclamation for the election to be held on September 3rd."

The Commission had recommended this date earlier in the week.

However, press resports out of Jamaica had indicated that a major rift had developed in the cabinet over the issue.

But there has been steady denial of rifts by officials of the ruling People's National Party (PNP).

Announcement delay

Local journalists say that most Jamaicans had expected Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller to announce the new date when she addressed the nation on Wednesday night.

However, she remained silent on the matter when she spoke.

The governing PNP had said it was staying away from election talk in order to focus on post-hurricane recovery.

But the general secretary of the opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Karl Samuda, criticised the government for delaying the decision.

"For the government at this stage to be delaying this decision and to be causing the Jamaican people to remain in a state of uncertainty and anxiety is absolutely unacceptable," Samuda told journalists.

Earlier this week, the Education Ministry had issued a statement indicating that the new school year would begin on September 10, following a September 3 general election.

That release was subsequently withdrawn and local journalists reported arguments at a cabinet meeting over the statement and the date.

Pressure had mounted when Danville Walker spoke to the Jamaica Observer newspaper on Thursday.

"If I don't have a new date by tomorrow (Friday), I have a huge problem on my hands," Director of Elections Danville Walker had told Jamaica's Observer newspaper.

International observers have started to arrive in Jamaica for the poll.

They include a team from the Organisation of American States.