Homogenous Voting, Electoral Manipulation and the 'Garrison' Process in Post-Independence Jamaica

Abstract

Jamaican politics presents a number of distinctive features that sets it apart from other Commonwealth Caribbean countries. While elections have been held regularly since independence in 1962 and changes of government have occurred periodically, Jamaican politics has been plagued by gun violence and electoral manipulation. This article focuses on the role of the 'garrison' communities as a special feature of the Jamaican political system that helps to explain the development of violence, electoral fraud, corruption and Jamaica's connection with the international drug trade. It concentrates on one particular facet of these communities, namely the growth of homogenous voting. An examination of homogenous voting between 1962 and 1993 highlights the increasing impact of the 'garrison' process. While the 1997 election represents a break in the trend, we argue that it will take more than one election before it is possible to say that there is a decline in the influence of the 'garrison' process on Jamaica's polity.

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