If the signal holds true, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller will announce on Sunday night, the date for the general election and Jamaicans will vote sometime towards the end of the month.

That, given the history of these things, is a reasonable conclusion to be drawn from Mrs. Simpson Miller's announcement Wednesday night of a major rally for Sunday in Half-Way Tree square of the governing People's National Party (PNP), where she will introduce her party's 60 candidates for the general election.

Such rallies in Jamaica normally suggest that political parties are reaching a high point in their election mobilisation, and that the PM, in whom rests the prerogative, is ready to call the election. Moreover, Half-Way Tree is not a place where PNP leaders are unaccustomed to announcing election dates.

Assuming that we are correct that Jamaica has entered the final stretch of the election campaign, there are a few things which we wish to place on the agenda of the parties and their candidates so that people can make the best choice of government.

We are, of course, reasonably assured that the outcome of the voting will, by and large, reflect the people's choice. We have a democracy that functions relatively decently.

But a process that is relatively decent is not good enough for us. We want it to be pristine. After all, elections are not blood sport. Rather, they are processes by which people exercise their franchise to choose a group of people in whom they can repose their trust to manage the affairs of the country for a particular period.

In that regard, we support Mrs. Simpson Miller's recent statement that a single drop of blood of a single Jamaican is a drop too precious to be spread in an electoral system that transcends the baseness of violence and the right of free and fearless choice.

Political leaders have a responsibility not only to make statements but to act in accord with these declared values. Put another way, we expect any candidate from any party who breaches the codes presumed by democratic competitiveness to be exposed, severely censured and even ditched by their leaders.

Second, we expect the remainder of the campaign to be substantially about ideas and specific programmes, rather than vapid and trite declarations or feel-good fun sessions.

We do not, of course, expect political campaigns to be dead, staid affairs disconnected from the Jamaican personality. That, however, does not mean a process devoid of discipline or serious discourse.

The demand, therefore, is for:

An end to the motorcades of weaving vehicles, bulged with protruding bodies and assorted strong-armed outriders, intimidating fellow motorists or communities of assumed opposing voters.

That politicians accept that voters are sensible adults and that Jamaica is a serious place, deserving of good governance and economic and social development.

That those who offer themselves as candidates begin to speak with clarity and outline specifics, rather than offering platitudes and promises that are undeliverable.

In other words, we hope for a process that is honest and truthful, with declarations of specific goals, with timetables for achievements and actions to be taken in the event of failure.