"Selfless", "meticulous" and "innovative" were only some of the words rolling off the tongues of contemporaries, colleagues and family members of late politician Ryan Peralto as they paid tribute to him yesterday during a ceremonial farewell at the Stella Maris Catholic Church in St Andrew.

Peralto, a former member of the Electoral Advisory Committee and a former mayor of Kingston, died in hospital two weeks ago after suffering sudden respiratory failure.

Peralto was hailed by both sides of the political divide as a man of integrity who loved his country dearly and contributed to its progress, especially through his invention of Jamaica's and the world's first electronic voter identification system. The system has been used in every general election since 1997.

Moving tributes

In one of the most moving tributes of the afternoon, former prime minister and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader, Edward Seaga, under whom Peralto served as mayor of Kingston and state minister for national security in the 1980s, remembered his persistence in creating a free and fair electoral process for Jamaicans.

"He had strong feelings about the system of election and the way in which it was open to fraud and I invited him to address the standing committee of the party on that matter," Seaga recounted.

"Unfortunately, he was way ahead of the membership of the standing committee, including myself, because most of us thought his views were futuristic. I went so far as to call them Star Wars," he chuckled.

Milestone for ja id system

It was not until 1989, after doing more research on the system, that Peralto would be able to convince Seaga that the device could be implemented.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding also heaped praises on Peralto for his contribution to both the State and the JLP. Peralto served as general secretary of the JLP during the 1980s, as well as chairman of the party in the 1990s.

Representing Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller, People's National Party Chairman Robert Pickersgill said Peralto was never seen as an adversary, but as a colleague.

Peralto is survived by his wife of 51 years, Lorna, eight children and 18 grandchildren.