Edmond Campbell, News Coordinator

DESPITE FEARS of what could be a violent general election this year, the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) says the country is not likely to have any international observer groups monitoring the upcoming elections.

Director of Elections, Danville Walker, in a Gleaner interview, said that to date, the EOJ had not confirmed the visit of international election observers for the general election, which is constitutionally due by October.

Commissioner of Police Lucius Thomas and the Peace Management Initiative (PMI) said earlier this year that they had received information that criminals were arming themselves ahead of the election.

Local monitoring

But Mr. Walker noted that based on the smooth running of the 2002 national polls, many overseas observers felt there was no compelling need for them to monitor the pending election.

However, Mr. Walker said the local-based observer group, Citizens Action for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE), will monitor the election.

Late last year, CAFFE received US$10,000 from the United States Embassy to help finance its activities as it prepares to monitor the next general election.

Chairman of CAFFE, Dr. Lloyd Barnett, had reported that his organisation's main priority was the recruitment of volunteers for the election exercise.

Thousands to be recruited

The country's sole independent election monitoring group is expected to recruit some 3,000 volunteers to act as observers at more than 6,000 polling stations across Jamaica.

CAFFE was established in 1997, and has since monitored two general elections, two local government elections and several by-elections.

In 2002, the renowned Carter Center, headed by former United States President Jimmy Carter, along with CAFFE, gave the then Electoral Advisory Committee, the EOJ and the security forces the thumbs up for a job well done in the 2002 election.

The Carter Center said of the 2002 General Election that "the institution of the election centre, which allowed for the immediate resolution of disputes, and the consultative process in verifying the voters list, determining the location of polling stations and selecting poll workers, also contributed to a peaceful election day".