Jamaica's leading election monitor, Dr Alfred Sangster, claimed that the comparatively peaceful atmosphere had been made possible because the country had united behind the national soccer team, the so-called Reggae Boys, as they fought their way through to next year's World Cup finals in France.
Jamaica's opposition says casualty figures are higher than those given by police and accuses the government of unevenly enforcing the law by sending police and soldiers into its strongholds.
Elections are not due until next year, but there is a long history of political violence on the island: in 1980, eight hundred people died.
Jamaica's current Constitution was drafted in 1962 by a bipartisan joint committee of the Jamaican legislature.
Patterson subsequently led the PNP to victory in general elections in 1993, in December 1997 and in October 2002.
Jamaica is divided in 14 parishes: Clarendon, Hanover, Kingston, Manchester, Portland, Saint Andrew, Saint Ann, Saint Catherine, Saint Elizabeth, Saint James, Saint Mary, Saint Thomas, Trelawny, Westmoreland.
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