By Vernon Daley, Staff Reporter
Walker
COOLUM, Australia:
A COMMONWEALTH election observer team will monitor Jamaica's general election expected later this year.
A senior Commonwealth official attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting now under way in Coolum, Australia confirmed on Sunday that the Commonwealth had received Jamaica's request for monitors and had recently made a decision to send a team to the island.
"Yes, we will be coming," the official, said. He was, however, unsure how large the election team would be and what were the critical issues that drove the Common-wealth to send in monitors.
Last month, Director of Elec-tions, Danville Walker said Jamaica had invited 10 international groups of election observers to watch the election.
With crucial elections set for Zimbabwe this month and the possibility of fresh polls in Trinidad and Tobago this year, Mr. Walker argued that Jamaica might fall low on the list of priorities of election groups.
Added to that, he said, was the fact that Jamaica was seen at the international level as a relatively stable democracy, with little need for close scrutiny.
Late last year, the Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC), which is the body that shapes election policy, wrote to the international organisations following local calls for international observers. In its press release announcing the move, the EAC said it took into consideration the guidelines that have been drawn up by the election observer organisations "that recommend adequate lead time prior to the calling of elections so that not only election day procedures are observed, but also related matters such as voter registration, the preparation of the voters list and the location and distribution of polling places".
Those invited to monitor the next election are the Commonwealth Secretariat, European Commission, Inter-American Institute of Human Rights and CAPEL, Carter Centre, Organisation of American States, National Democratic Union, International IDEA, International Federation of Electoral Systems, United Nations - Electoral Affairs Division and the CARICOM Secretariat. Local and international election observers monitored the last general election in 1997. They included the Carter Centre in the United States, headed by former President Jimmy Carter, as well as the local election group, Citizens Action for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE). Both groups said the election was not properly organised but concluded that overall it was free and fair.
However, their conclusions drew scorching comments from local critics who argued that the election was marred by chaos and intimidation, particularly in so-called 'garrison areas'. The Representation of the People Act, the principal legislation governing general elections, was amended in 1997 to allow international and local organisations to observe elections in Jamaica.
