FROM dawn this Saturday to noon on Sunday, Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldiers will throw a security blanket around polling stations, counting centres and nomination centres islandwide, in preparation for Election Day, August 27, 2007.

“We are going to be practising now to make sure we are ready by the time the election comes around,” staff officer in charge of operations and training, Lt Col Garfield Prendergast told the Observer yesterday.

The army will deploy an undisclosed number of troops, beginning from 5:00 am on Saturday and lasting until midday Sunday, the military announced earlier in a press statement describing it as a training exercise covering the main centres of activities for nomination, polling and counting of votes.

“We will be having troops going out and getting to familiarise themselves with the locations in which they are going to be operating for the elections,” Prendergast said, stressing that the intention was to have the officers prepared for any eventuality on the day.

Past election days, notably prior to the 1990s, have been marked by sporadic outbursts of violence, mainly between rival Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and People’s National Party (PNP) supporters.

The 1980 election campaign claimed a reported 800 lives, setting a record for the highest death toll in peace time Jamaica. But elections have grown increasingly less violent in the 1990s, a fact often attributed by the PNP to the non-confrontational approach of former Prime Minister P J Patterson.

But the security forces are apparently taking no chances, with the current election campaign already claiming at least one life, that of a JLP constituency manager, and the cause of several skirmishes in which party supporters from both sides have been injured.

“We are going to have them (the soldiers) responding to scenarios which are likely to play out during the upcoming election period – anything from roadblocks to shootings,” Prendergast noted.

At the same time, the JDF officer sought to assure the populace that the exercise was no cause for alarm.

“It is a low-key, non-invasive type of operation on the public, so it’s not that we are going to be going into a full tactical setting on the streets. We are just visiting locations and checking our communication, that kind of thing,” he said.

He declined to say how many troops would be deployed but said it would be “significant” and “adequate”.

“We normally tend to keep that secret. But we will have significant deployment during the election period to ensure that we have adequate coverage,” he said.

As is customary, members of the security forces and Election Day workers will cast their ballots earlier – on August 21 – to leave them free to concentrate on election day activities.

Yesterday, public education officer for the Electoral Office of Jamaica, Takeese Gilpin Allen confirmed that approximately 6,813 members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and 1,676 from the JDF were expected to vote on that day. She said just under 24,000 applications had been received from persons wanting to work on the day.

Earlier this month, the police indicated their own readiness to uphold law and order on the day.

Deputy Commissioner in charge of operations, Linval Bailey, said the police had been observing political activities islandwide and had formulated a strategy to ensure that voters would be protected from violence and other forms of threat.

He said communities such as Woodford Park and Mountain View Avenue in South East St Andrew, Central Village in South Central St Catherine, and Stony Hill and Brandon Hill in West Rural St Andrew would be areas to which the police would be paying close attention on Election Day.

In addition, Bailey said there would be a strong police presence at counting centres, while the routes taken by candidates would be monitored to prevent supporters of opposing parties clashing on Nomination Day, August 7.

An estimated 12,000 ‘one-day police officers’ would be deployed to help maintain order at polling stations, Bailey said.