Latinoamerica-online

Cultura, Società e Il Mondo dei Caraibi

Giamaica

di Mariella Moresco Fornasier

Altre pagine sulla Giamaica

Altri paesi dei Caraibi

Il Mondo dei Caraibi

ogni martedì l'attualità e la cultura dei Caraibi

Jamaican Governing Party Claims Win   (22 ottobre 2002)

Il sistema elettorale giamaicano   (scheda)   (22 ottobre 2002)

Sam Sharpe, l'eroe della Giamaica   (23 febbraio 2002)   

Don't just depend on the British  (30 luglio 2001)

La mappa di tutte le nostre pagine

mondocaraibi@yahoo.it

by Stevenson Jacobs

National elections won praise from Jimmy Carter as largely violence free Thursday as Prime Minister P.J. Patterson's party celebrated an apparent victory that would make him the country's first leader elected to three straight terms.

"The will of the Jamaican people has been expressed in a forceful and clear fashion," the former U.S. president said of the election process.

With nearly all votes counted from Wednesday's vote, Patterson's People's National Party appeared to have secured 35 of the 60 parliamentary seats, said Neville Graham of the Jamaica Electoral Office.

A final tally was expected Friday or Monday, but the results were unlikely to change significantly, Graham said. The opposition Jamaica Labor Party of former Prime Minister Edward Seaga took 25 seats, according to preliminary results.

"The elections are behind us, the work to build a country is before us," Patterson said Thursday, announcing he and his Cabinet would be sworn in next Wednesday. "My first priority will be to build peace and harmony and restore law and order."

Patterson, 68, said he would ban political motorcades and rallies until  further notice to prevent "some act of provocation" from either party.

The current elections focused largely on issues of rampant crime and a stagnant economy. Patterson pledged to resume hanging killers for the first time since 1988. Most of this year's nearly 800 killings are believed to have been related to the active drug trade.

Though there were long lines of voters in some places, electoral officials said only about 57 percent of the 1.3 million registered voters turned out to cast ballots, and described it as the lowest turnout in national elections in Jamaican history.

Some attributed the low turnout to apathy among voters who no longer strongly believe in either party. Strong rains also likely kept some people away.

Carter, who observed Wednesday's voting along with a team of 59 international observers, urged Jamaica's leaders to do more to reduce political tension in the Caribbean country.

Carter, who last week won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to further  democracy, said Jamaica remains "one of the world's most violent  societies" and urged party leaders to ease tension within gritty Kingston neighborhoods that maintain strong political alliances.

"The worst blight on the integrity of the electoral process is the continuation of the garrison communities," Carter said.

He said observers visited nearly 900 polling stations and were pleased  with the overall conduct. But Carter said the observers witnessed several incidents of multiple voting and intimidation at Kingston polling stations.

Patterson, who has pledged that he will step down before the upcoming  five-year term is up, won his first term after the 1992 retirement of his  mentor Michael Manley.

Manley fought for free education and health care but his socialist olicies debilitated the economy. Jamaica's economy grew by just 1.1 percent last year, and its tourism industry was ravaged by the fallout from the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States.

Washington Post, 17 October, 2002

La Giamaica, appartenente al Commonwealth britannico, è retta da un governatore generale, attualmente Sir Howard Felix Cooke.

Il capo di governo, Percival James Pattersohn, è stato eletto per la terza volta dal 1992.  

Il Parlamento giamaicano è composto dal Senato, con 21 seggi, e dalla House of Representatives (60 deputati).

I 21 membri del Senato sono scelti sia dal partito di governo, cui spettano 16 seggi, che da quello di opposizione, mentre i membri della House of Representatives vengono eletti ogni 5 anni in 60 circoscrizioni elettorali.

Rispetto alle ultime elezioni del 17 dicembre 1997, si è registrato uno spostamento di voti a vantaggio del partito di opposizione, il Jamaica Labour Party (Jlp), che passa dai precedenti 10 seggi a 25, a danno del People's National Party (Pnp), che ha ottenuto 35 seggi contro i 50 di cinque anni fa.

Secondo sondaggi di opinione pubblica, le richieste più pressanti che i giamaicani rivolgono ai propri politici riguardano l’educazione, l’occupazione, il miglioramento delle strade, un migliore accesso all’acqua potabile.

L’attuale primo ministro Patterson sostituì nel 1992 il socialista Michael Manley, che aveva basato la sua politica su un programma sociale che prevedeva, tra altri obiettivi, anche l' istruzione e la sanità gratuite, provvedimenti che contribuirono a  debilitare l’economia del paese. 

Lo scorso anno si è registrato un incremento economico limitato all’1,1%  ed il settore turistico ha subito un pesante tracollo dopo gli attentati dell’11 settembre.

[m.m.f.]

22 ottobre 2002

Gli accordi raggiunti nel corso della visita del primo ministro inglese Tony Blair, avvenuta il 29 luglio, non hanno del tutto soddisfatto parte dell’opinione pubblica giamaicana, timorosa di una eccessiva ingerenza della Gran Bretagna negli affari interni della sua ex colonia. Espressione di questo sentimento di preoccupazione è l’articolo pubblicato il 30 luglio dal giornale Jamaica Observer, senza firma e con la seguente postilla: “Quanto pubblicato in questa pagina non necessariamente rappresenta il punto di vista o le opinioni “ del quotidiano.

Indeed, Britain and most of the countries of the Caribbean have, by and large, shared what the Bahamian prime minister, Hubert Ingraham, referred to as a "special relationship".
British colonial dominance of the region ensured that the English-speaking Caribbean inherited a democratic tradition, which, despite the stresses and strains, remains substantially intact.
Additionally, the post-independence involvement by the former Caribbean colonies in the Commonwealth provides another forum for partnership, and a basis for strengthening that special relationship. This relationship was actualised, too, in preferential markets the UK provided for Caribbean products and Britain's role, when it joined the European Union (EU), in ensuring that the markets were expanded.
Inevitably though, Britain's entry into the European Union was bound to place stresses on its special relationship with its former Caribbean colonies -- indeed, with all its former colonies. The 
evolution of the EU, from a free-trade community, towards a single market and economy and a burgeoning supra-national state, was bound to impact on how the UK relates to the rest of the world. London may be emotionally inclined to favour the Caribbean, but it has to be mindful of its obligations to Brussels even as it remains wary of the bureaucrats at the EU and is tentative about its ceding of sovereignty.
At the same time, too, post-socialist Britain is among the purveyors of the ideals of globalisation, free trade and the critical role of the World Trade Oganisation. All these factors would help to limit the UK's capacity to continue its relationship with the Caribbean on the basis of the past.
It is understandable, therefore, that while Mr Tony Blair, the British prime minister, appeared to warmly embrace the idea of a special relationship with the Caribbean, he was a little circumspect 
about its practical application.
The region, we were told by Mr Ingraham, would wish for the UK to articulate the Caribbean's concerns in fora such as the G-8 and the EU.
Clearly, there are times when Britain has, and will find, sympathy with Caribbean concerns. However, our region should not expect, in the existing environment, for there to be a consistent congruence of interests.
It is important that the Caribbean enhance its capacity to effectively articulate its interests in all the critical fora, so that the region does not, in the future, find itself declaring ignorance after the fact. The Caribbean Community has created a clearly workable model for international trade negotiations in the Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM). It can be applied to other areas where our common interests are at stake.
Mr Blair may be able to help but, ultimately.

da Jamaica Observer - Kingston, 30 luglio 2001

Latinoamerica-online - Cultura, Società e Il Mondo dei Caraibi 

Ass. Cult. IMAGO MUNDI