Editorial - Safeguarding the election process MR. DANVILLE WALKER, the Director of Elections, in cranking up the general election machinery, has warned that he is on a mission to prevent political activists from hijacking the polls on election day. He says his objective is to exclude them from the system altogether, and he is bent on rooting out corrupt 'presiding officers' who, in the past, have been the main culprits, strategically placed as they are, in subverting the electoral process, and the will of the people on election day, contrary to their remit. In an effort to achieve the goal of providing efficient and trustworthy presiding officers and other election day workers, the Electoral Office of Jamaica, which Mr. Walker heads, is recruiting 17,000 workers. Specifically, Mr. Walker is targeting the young and the professional to provide the quality staff which is critical to the integrity and success of those facets of the electoral process over which he presides. His focus is on young students who have not been introduced to election day skulduggery. We endorse Mr. Walker's call for people of integrity to get involved in the administration of the electoral system, and in election day activities in particular. There are far too many people whose vigilant involvement could safeguard the electoral process but who have sat on the sidelines, only to point accusing fingers after the fact, when their participation could have ensured the integrity of the process. We are all stakeholders in Jamaica, land we love, and so have a bounden duty to ensure the enjoyment of every right granted by the Constitution. As the report by the Citizens' Action for Free and Fair Elections stated after the 1997 General Election, too many of our previous elections have been laced with corruption and violence to the detriment of the country's tradition of democracy. After 57 years of Universal Adult Suffrage, it is high time for Jamaica to conduct national elections with the results being acceptable to all.
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