IN AT least six constituencies the election campaign has turned violent and forced the authorities to take firm action. In the bad years of the 1980s the violence was mostly confined to the western sectors of the Corporate Area. Now three of the battle zones have gone rural - to St. Catherine, St. Thomas, - and of all places, Manchester.
The calls for peace from several sectors of civil society come against a backdrop of hope that peace would prevail. That hope sprang from the hard preparatory work done by the Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC) and the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ). Both agencies have provided strong and pragmatic leadership.
It now appears that the agreement to abide by a Code of Conduct was a formality that meant little to the activists down the line. In effect the predictions of a peaceful election ignored the basic instincts of tribal politics and all that that implies. The guns were never buried.
It is a matter of irony, and indeed cynicism, that both PNP and JLP leadership have joined the calls for peace in the same vein that they blame each other for inciting violence.
They will probably repudiate all knowledge of armed factions within the ranks of activists that so crudely ride their reckless motorcades. That is why we accept the verdict of Director of Elections Danville Walker when he told our Editors Forum: "I don't buy the view that supporters go out there and create this havoc without direction..."
We have to hope that both EOJ and EAC will through the Constituted Authority invoke whatever powers they have to void any election tainted by malpractice or violence.
We hope that the easing of tensions which the Director noted yesterday will stay intact in the few days left before Election Day. We expect that the Security Forces will be able to contain whatever violence erupts on the streets so that law-abiding voters can exercise their franchise.
But the fact that political violence has spread to three rural constituencies is not a happy omen of real electoral reform.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
