Last year's general election was relatively peaceful ­ Carter Center

Carter

Garwin Davis, Asst. News Editor

WHILE REFRAINING from criticising an Amnesty International report which described last year's general election as violent, the Carter Center said it is still of the view that the national polls were relatively peaceful.

The Atlanta, Georgia-based organisation, which has observed the last two general elections, was, however, quick to point out that there were still aspects of the island's electoral process that are badly in need of reforming.

"Yes, we have read the Amnesty report," said Laura Neuman, Senior Programme Associate for the Carter Center in an interview with The Gleaner yesterday. "The elections last year, in our view, ran relatively well. That is not to say however that there weren't problems. There was violence that clearly was politically motivated. How much of it can be attributed to the elections...that would be difficult to say."

The international human rights group, Amnesty International, said last week in its annual report that "the elections were accompanied by an increase in politically motivated violence, with at least 60 people killed in the days leading to the election."

Ms. Neuman, whose organisation, in collaboration with the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies, will be holding a symposium on "Elections in Jamaica: The Next Steps for Democracy" on Thursday at the Hilton Hotel, said political intimidation was a serious problem that had to be addressed.

Asked what the Carter Centre hopes to accomplish on Thursday, she said, "We are hoping for a lively debate... we are planning on issuing recommendations which hopefully will assist in the country's electoral process, where we will see a reduction in violence during elections. We will also be releasing our report on last October's elections...our findings."

Ms. Neuman added that the much talked about issue of campaign finance reform will be discussed, noting that it was critical in how elections are conducted in democratic societies worldwide. "At the end of the day we are hoping that Jamaica will one day see no more need to have international observers," she said. Government Senator Trevor Munroe and his Opposition counterpart Bruce Golding will be making presentations at the symposium.