McCoyTHE TYPE of garrison politics that is practised in Jamaica is not seen anywhere else in the world, according to Jennifer McCoy, Carter Centre Director for Latin American and Caribbean Programme.
Ms. McCoy, who was among the group of observers from the United States-based Carter Centre here for Wednesday's general election, made the comment yesterday in an interview with The Gleaner.
"No, not like this," she said when asked if she had witnessed the kind of garrison politics that exists in Jamaica. "We've not seen this similar type in other countries."
The world-famous Carter Centre, Atlanta, Georgia, which was founded in the early 1980s by former United States President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Roslynn, has monitored elections in at least 40 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
Garrisons are political constituencies fiercely loyal to either the governing People's National Party or the opposition Jamaica Labour Party.
Yesterday, Ms. McCoy sought to explain the reasoning behind earlier comments by President Carter that garrison politics was a disgrace and a blot on Jamaica's image. His comments, she said, referred to the impact of the so-called garrison-type political organisation and the right of voters to cast their ballots freely and fairly to make their choice.
According to her, it had a larger impact on the culture of violence and economic freedom in the country. This, as one political party is allowed to have "almost total control" in an area and where voters may not feel free to make their choice, especially if the "checks and safeguards" are not in place to give voters confidence.
In such cases, there is likely to be an "element of intimidation" on the part of the voter," Ms. McCoy said. "In terms of the wider impact of the so-called garrison politics on Jamaican society, what we're referring to is the contribution to violence in the sense of having a state within a state - groups that may feel outside the law."
The Carter Center representative said it was not all bad as she was satisfied with the progress made since the elections of 1993 and 1997, when "overt fraud" was evident. To this end, she praised the Electoral Office of Jamaica for taking steps to weed out political activists with freshly recruited election day workers who manned more than 7,200 polling stations islandwide in Wednesday's general election, that was won by the People's National Party.
Also, she pointed to the voters' list -described as the cleanest in the country's history and one of the best in the world - as one way to eliminate voter irregularity. She said the work of the EAC in leading the process of electoral reform had been impressive, and she lauded the political leaders for their call for peace during the election campaign.
President Carter, at a press briefing on Monday, said Jamaica's garrison politics was a disgrace. He charged that the political leaders had not done enough to stamp it out.
"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 said.
He reiterated his position yesterday in a final press briefing at the Courtleigh Hotel, just before he left the island. He urged the political directorate to stamp out what was a "blight on the country's democracy." President Carter headed the group of observers from the United States-based Carter Center that observed the elections.
