THE CARTER Center Report on last October's General Election has conceded that the exercise was free and fair but there was still too much violence and intimidation.
While the release of the report coincides with the current campaign for Local Government elections, its impact may be minimal on that exercise, if only because the same level of intensity is not anticipated.
We are struck, however, by two aspects of some 15 recommendations for electoral reform by the Carter Center.
The first concerns increasing the number of 60 constituencies to avoid the dead heat which stymied Trinidad's electoral system last October.
The suggestion is particularly relevant to Jamaica in light of the 34-26 tighter seat distribution between Government and Opposition parties from last October's election.
The number of seats in the House of Representatives, as stipulated by entrenched provisions in the Constitution, can range between a minimum 45 and maximum 60, subject to review by a Standing Committee of the House. Such a review is now due.
The other recommendation may be even more problematic in that it repeats a major concern voiced by the Carter Center in their report on the 1997 General Election. That report called for the dismantling of political garrisons, even as it conceded that this was not a simple proposition.
The gravity of the impact of garrisons on the electoral system was cast in these terms: "... while Jamaica has one of the richest democratic traditions in the developing world, its politics contain elements that would bring its democracy to its knees... the 1997 election represents a curious juxtaposition of the most sophisticated politics with the most primitive form of coercive and violent politics..."
The politics may have changed character somewhat since 1997, but life in the garrisons remains the province of dons ruling fiefdoms of jungle justice and moral depravity. In the run-up to the October election, Political Ombudsman Bishop Herro Blair gave our own Editors' Forum some shocking glimpses of what he saw on the inside in his role as head of the Peace Management Initiative.
We think it significant that the Carter observers should once again point to the impact of the garrisons. They remain the albatross of Jamaican politics and much more.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
