There are many people, among the most fervent being the Opposition Leader, Bruce Golding, who would have preferred that Prime Minister Simpson Miller named an earlier date for the general election, and thereby a shorter campaign period.

As it is, it will now be seven weeks before Jamaicans go to the polls to choose a new government, which Mr. Golding and his Jamaica Labour Party hope will be the opportunity to end their 18 years in the wilderness. Mrs. Simpson Miller is seeking a fifth consecutive term for her People's National Party (PNP), whose leadership she inherited 18 months ago, and her first full term as Prime Minister.

In some respects, concerns about what Mr. Golding sees as a "long, protracted" period of "intense political campaigning" is understandable. Jamaica has a history of politically motivated violence that intensifies at election time this has subsided significantly in recent years.

Mr. Golding's proposed solution to this problem and the opportunity of Prime Ministers to manipulate the timing of elections, which is in their sole purview, to theirs and their party's benefit, is to institute a fixed election date. Indeed, Mr. Golding has promised that if he wins the election, he will, within the first 100 days in office, bring a bill to institute a fixed election date.

While we would endorse a serious debate on the matter, Mr. Golding's pronouncement on the matter appears surprisingly glib, particularly for a leader who has had this issue on his agenda for several years. The election date is a fundamental constitutional matter, which does not stand alone. For example, establishing a fixed election date will also affect the power of the Prime Minister to dissolve Parliament at any time, such as in the event of losing a motion of no-confidence.

Even if Mr. Golding wins two-thirds of the seats in the House of Representatives, which would afford him greater legislative manoeuvrability, any effort to shift entrenched constitutional provisions would demand substantial negotiations with the Opposition if it is not to founder in the Senate. Moreover, there would have to be a significant discussion with the Jamaican people. The latter is a dialogue that the JLP can begin now as part of its campaign, explaining how the fixed date will be fundamentally better than what now prevails. There will be those, of course, who will counter that such a system would lead to more extensive periods of campaigning, such as exists in the United States.

In the meantime, we have in place an election system which Jamaican political parties of all stripes have sought to use to their advantage, notwithstanding Mrs. Simpson Miller's claim of the need to complete important parliamentary business before the poll. The important thing in the next seven weeks is for the leaders to exercise discipline and build on the emerging political maturity in the country.

Rather than hype supporters into antisocial behaviour, the campaign must be policy and issues-based. Recognising that the electorate may be burdened by incumbency fatigue, Mrs. Simpson Miller, the relatively new party leader, has argued that she is "the change".

It is for Mrs. Simpson Miller and Mr. Golding and their candidates seriously to engage voters on issues such as the country's problem of crime, the achievement of robust and sustainable growth and the creation of jobs.