THE Caribbean Community’s (Caricom) contingent of election observers yesterday expressed satisfaction with the preparation for Monday’s national polls, but said members would be cautious while making the rounds on election day amidst Jamaica’s history of pre-and post-election violence.

Chief of mission of the Caricom observer group, Gerald Watt, said its small contingent of observers would be visiting as many constituencies as possible, but would pay special attention to constituencies expected to be closely contested.

Watt, who is the chairman of Electoral Commission of Antigua and Barbuda, told journalists yesterday that the ‘hotspots’ will also be visited.

“We would not wish to go into an area and be caught up in incidents because it will put life and limb at risk. But apart from that, it is not going to prevent us from doing the job that we came to do,” Watt said.

He added: “We are prepared to go as far as we can into an area, even if there was a little bacchanal. Caribbean is bacchanal. Our politics is volatile, it is lively, and so if that is around, that is not going to stop me from going into an area. So we don’t have a fear, but we are cautious.”

The group, consisting of seven people, which has been in the island since Tuesday, held meetings with representatives of the two major political parties and electoral officials, and has been invited to participate in today’s training session with members of the Organisation of American States (OAS) observer group who are also here.

The group will leave Jamaica by next Wednesday and its report will be submitted shortly after and issued through the Caricom Secretariat.