FOUR OF the island's strongest garrison constituencies ­ St. Andrew South Western, St. Andrew Southern, Western Kingston and St. Andrew East Central ­ were retained by the incumbent candidates, again proving that challengers still had a far way to go in making inroads into what former United States President Jimmy Carter calls "a disgrace" and "blight" on the country's democratic process.

Both the PNP's Portia Simpson Miller (St. Andrew South Western) and Dr. Omar Davies (St. Andrew Southern) won their seats by the proverbial city block. The JLP's Edward Seaga too had a cake walk, defeating the PNP's Bunny Witter by 10,032 votes to 1,625. Dr. Peter Phillips, however, had an early scare before pulling away, polling 6,402 votes to the JLP's C. Ridell's 3,498 to secure a comfortable victory. Mrs. Simpson Miller polled 9,688 to the JLP's Garnett Reid's 608 votes. Dr. Davies polled 11,696 to the JLP's Dennis Messias' 581.

Former President Carter, who was an observer for yesterday's election, said on his arrival in the island that the garrisons posed a real threat to the country's democratic process.

"The garrisons only serve to undermine essential democratic values such as free speech, assembly and political association."

His speech was in line with what US Secretary of State Colin Powell said in 1997 about the Jamaican garrisons. "I think it begins with a statement from the political leaders that this is no longer acceptable, they will not support, and they will not use garrison communities as a principal means of political support," Mr. Powell had said. Political analyst, D.K. Duncan, noted that it was evident that it would take "some doing" to make any meaningful dent into trying to dismantle the garrisons.

With the Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC) and Electoral Office of Jamaica (EoJ) having declared that the 2002 General Election would be the cleanest in the country's history, political watchers were looking to see what, if anything, would change with the voting pattern in the garrisons, particularly in the aforementioned four constituencies.

In the 1993 General Election, Portia Simpson from a total of 18,104 votes that were cast, recorded 16,510 as opposed to the JLP's Chester Smith 71. In 1997, different opponent, same result, she again won by a wide margin. From a voters' list of 19,070, she defeated Basil Smith 15,503 to 312 votes.

In 1993 in St. Andrew Southern, the then PNP candidate Hartley Jones polled 17,074 from 22,887 votes cast to defeat the JLP's Desmond McKenzie 5,493. In 1997, with Dr. Davies being the candidate, the result was pretty much the same. Dr. Davies, from a turnout of 15,345, polled 14,084 to defeat the JLP's Dennis Messias 1,206.

In 1993, Mr. Seaga from a total of 13,547 votes cast, polled 11,442 to the JLP's Errar Sydney's 2,072. In 1997, from 12,557 votes Mr. Seaga recorded 11,944 to Earlston Spencer's 613.

In 1993, in St. Andrew East Central Arthur Jones from 16,181 votes cast defeated the JLP's Francis Wilmot 13,257 votes to 2924. In 1997, with Peter Philips the new candidate, the PNP from a total of 10,687 votes cast recorded 7811 votes to the JLP's Godfrey McAllister 2,455 votes.