Jamaica opposition leader asks for election vigil

Jamaican opposition leader Edward Seaga called Thursday for international observers to be sent to his country to monitor its increasingly violent general election campaign. The head of the Jamaica Labour Party said observers from democratic countries in the Caribbean, the Organization of American States, and the United Nations were needed in his country now, "lest the escalation of the situation requires a peacekeeping force later."

Mr. Seaga warned that Prime Minister Michael Manley, who is far behind in the polls, might ask Cuba for some form of assitance, since it appeared that neigher the police nor the country's military would approve his declaring a state of emergency, which he did just before the 1976 election. He also accused Cuba of using the country as a base of subversion for the whole English-speaking Caribbean and with training and directing members of Mr. Manley's party.