By Vernon Daley, Staff ReporterFORMER PRESIDENT of the United States, Jimmy Carter, yesterday branded Jamaica's 'garrison politics' a disgrace and said local political leaders had not done enough to bring it to heel.
President Carter, who is leading a delegation from the Carter Center to observe tomorrow's General Election, said the continuation of Jamaica's garrison politics was a blot on the country's image.
"This is a disgrace, in my opinion, to the essence of democracy to have a certain neighbourhood within which freedom of speech is impossible; and freedom of assembly is impossible; and the expression of one's purpose in choosing one's own leaders is impossible; and where intimidation and violence are prevalent," he told local and foreign journalists gathered for a press briefing at the Courtleigh Hotel in New Kingston yesterday.
Garrisons are political constituencies that are fiercely local to either the governing People's National Party (PNP) or the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and vote overwhelmingly for either in national elections. Most of the garrisons are concentrated in the Corporate Area and St. Catherine and are largely aligned to the governing party.
Recently, election officials wrote to the candidates in eight of these constituency, warning that the areas would come under sharp scrutiny during the election with the possibility of the seats being declared void if fraud and voter intimidation are detected.
President Carter said he hoped the country would remain solid in its determination to tear down the garrisons which, he said, was one of the sad realities of the nation's politics, despite its decades-old democracy.
The former president, who was last week awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, said the observer group was distressed to see the upsurge in violence during the electoral period.
"Such politically motivated violence and intimidation have no place in a modern democracy and must be condemned by all political leaders," Mr. Carter said.
Following Nomination Day on September 30, there has been an eruption in violence across the island, with supporters from both major parties being injured on their way to and from political meetings. There have been reports of at least two deaths linked to the political tension.
Mr. Carter said he believed that the local political leaders were aware that the recovery of the country's tattered economy would depend largely on the integrity and safety of the election.
"Anyone who does perpetrate violence would be hurting his own country and perhaps his own relatives and friends as foreign investment goes to other countries...," President Carter said.
A delegation from the Carter Centre will meet with candidates, political leaders, election officials, the Police Commissioner, the Political Ombudsman and CAFFE, the local election observer group, before tomorrow's election. The Carter Center delegation of 59 observers from 16 countries has already been deployed to 25 constituencies throughout the island.
Former President of Costa Rica Dr. Miguel Rodriguez, who is a member of the Carter Center delegation, yesterday urged Jamaicans to go out and vote. He added that he hoped the presence of observers would help to ensure that voters can cast their ballots safely and secretly.
