Escalating violence in the run-up to the 2002 general elections forced the Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC) to call in the 20 candidates contesting six constituencies and threaten to postpone the polls in those areas.

This move by the EAC, which went unreported before now, along with other resolute actions to warn off candidates, “resulted in one of the most peaceful elections in Jamaica since 1944”, the newly constituted Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) said.

The ECJ, which has replaced the EAC, has again warned it would not hesitate to postpone or void elections in any constituency where open violence and social disturbance were occurring.

“…there should be no question about the resolve of the Commission, the Director of Elections and the Constituted Authority to enforce the electoral laws,” said ECJ chairman Professor Errol Miller in a response to a January 26 Observer editorial reminding the Commission to let the perpetrators of election violence know that it would be to no avail, because the polls could be postponed.

Commissioner of Police Lucius Thomas was quoted recently as saying the 2007 elections could be bloody, triggering a pre-emptive meeting between Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and Opposition Jamaica Labour Party Leader Bruce Golding.

“Our experience has been that once people know and understand that those responsible for conducting the electoral process are going to enforce the law and will do so without fear or favour, there is a high degree of compliance with the law,” Miller argued.

Saying “we highly appreciate the position taken in your editorial of Friday January 26, on the question of political violence and the forthcoming general election”, Miller suggested the ECJ needed no reminder and was as resolved as ever to deal with those who breached the Representation of the People Act (ROPA).

Miller said that at a recent press conference the Commission had reiterated that under the ROPA it was abundantly clear that elections must not be carried out in “circumstances of open violence and social disturbance”.

“The ECJ will be enforcing the law. Hence, those planning violence should abandon those efforts, for the planned violence will serve no useful purpose. The ROPA specifies that if violence or social disturbance happens between Nomination Day and Election Day the EAC, and now the Commission, should apply to the governor-general in council to postpone the elections in those areas in which the violence and/or social disturbance are occurring,” Miller said.

He added that if violence or social disturbance occurred on Election Day, this was one of the grounds on which the Constituted Authority could apply to the Electoral Court for the elections in any polling division, electoral division or constituency to be declared null and void and run over at an appropriate time.

Miller recalled that in 2002, EAC representatives held meetings with all candidates and informed them of the ROPA, particularly as it referred to violence and social disturbance.

“This was the first time that the matter of the postponement of elections was being brought forcefully to the attention of candidates,” he told the Sunday Observer.

“You will recall that on Nomination Day in 2002, political parties nominated their candidates in circumstances that almost resembled a carnival, with respect to the celebrations that in many instances involved followers of both major political parties.

“However, not so long after, in six constituencies, the old patterns of violence and social disturbance began to show themselves. You will also recall that the EAC responded by requesting the commissioner of police to ban all meetings, marches, motorcades and other forms of public campaigning in those six constituencies, which he did.

“What you would not know is that on October 9, 2002, the EAC called all 20 candidates in those six constituencies and informed them that the action taken by the EAC resulting in banning of public campaigning in their constituency was the first step on the way to postponing the elections in their constituency, if the violence continued,” Miller said, without naming the six constituencies.

“While this meeting was not publicised, its impact was salutary. This action, among several others, resulted in one of the most peaceful elections in Jamaica since 1944,” he added.

He noted that the Constituted Authority had acted to void elections in polling divisions and constituencies in the general elections of 1997 and the local government elections of 2003.