Garth Rattray

Both political parties - especially the outgoing People's National Party (PNP), should have issued swift, well-publicised and very strong condemnations of the death threats against our Director of Elections, Mr. Danville Walker. A threat against him (and therefore what he represents) is a threat against our democracy. Through the efforts of the security forces, the various electoral bodies and the very visible Danville Walker, this high-stakes election was cleaner and definitely less violent than previously forecasted. Notwithstanding the ubiquity of guns, politically motivated violence and murders were relatively few.

Because there was only sparse anecdotal evidence of vote-buying, of polling officials blatantly unfolding and viewing ballots in a certain garrison constituency and of only a few other unsavoury incidents, I began believing that our people were (at last) beginning on a path of political maturity. However, the threats against Mr. Walker have dampened my hope for confident and fearless voting in the near future.

A set of ignoramuses embarked on a disruptive terror campaign against Mr. Walker. This brave and honourable man is head of the Electoral Office of Jamaica and a member of our Electoral Commission. Since his appointment (after bipartisan agreement), he has served us through two previous elections (which the PNP won). He is loyal to the electoral process and represents a stable and intrepid anchor for all honest voters.

Director of Elections

Mr. Walker does not count votes nor does he have any influence over the outcome of the counting of votes. The director of elections is a manager, an organiser and the disseminator of information (the messenger - of the results and harbinger of an immensely improved electoral system). Ballots are counted in full view of party representatives and several officials, yet a few buffoons want to kill him because they received bad news. Eliminating Mr. Walker will change nothing - nor will killing off each and every person involved in organising the elections. They would be well advised to abandon their futile quest to intimidate everyone associated with and interested in free and fair elections.

It's obvious that the desperate idiots who threatened Mr. Walker lost their gravy train and want to see a return of the days when political graffiti was everywhere and violence - before, during and after elections - was rampant. They want to go back to a time when ballot boxes were stuffed, stolen or magically mate-rialised for counting. They obviously want to (once again) see the possibility of the number of votes exceeding the number of registered voters in a community. They want to be able to saunter into polling stations and single-handedly vote on behalf of everyone else.

Discouraged voters

I know people that have withdrawn not only from working at polling stations on election day, but also from the entire electoral process because they had to hide under or beside overturned desks and duck for cover under a hail of gunfire. They were forced to acquiesce to armed thugs who wanted to vote with petroleum jelly ('Vaseline') on their right index finger or to vote under several names. Past occurrences like these and other ills associated with politics so turned off or disgusted 40 per cent of our registered voters that they chose to stay away from the polls.

I know that Mr. Walker could have been overseas living safely and comfortably but he elected to work for the betterment of Jamaica. Is this the thanks that he gets - death threats from dummies and silence from those in leadership positions? He deserves better, he deserves a medal.