Elections in Jamaica – some revelance to SVG
Fri, Jan 13. 2012
Editor: The Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines has congratulated Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller and her Peopleâs National Party (PNP), the ULPâs fraternal party, on their recent landslide electoral triumph, forty-two seats to twenty, in Jamaica.{{more}}
This massive victory was not predicted by the pollsters, the overwhelming number of columnists, editorial writers, talk-show hosts, and bloggers.
By far, the bulk of them forecasted a race âtoo close to callâ or a comfortable victory for the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
Interestingly, the focus of the JLPâs campaign was two-fold: (1) Demonise Portia Simpson-Miller as ignorant, incompetent, and lacking in any capacity to manage Jamaica; and (2) Extol the JLP as the only responsible party when it comes to the matter of âfiscal managementâ.
The JLPâs campaign back-fired badly; ordinary Jamaica felt insulted by the demonisation of âSister Portiaâ in very much the same way that Vincentians have rejected, and still reject, the 14-year demonisation of âComrade Ralphâ (1998 to 2012, and continuing) by the NDP. The love that people justifiably have for Portia and Ralph cannot easily be displaced by lying propaganda and demonisation.
Secondly, the JLPâs and the NDPâs obsession with the narrow âfiscal issuesâ, IMF-style, without regard to the development of the whole people and the economy ignores peopleâs appreciation of the complex inter-relationship between âthe fiscalâ and âdevelopmentalâ matters. People know instinctively that fiscal austerity makes no sense; as Ralph says, it has to be âprudence and enterpriseâ. The people accept this.
Interestingly, a JLP candidate, Joan Gordorn-Webley, who had in the past been an activist organizer and adviser to the NDP and who is a divisive, no-holds-barred politician of the variety which populates the NDP, was defeated by a young, dreadlocked, UWI graduate, Damion Crawford, in the St. Andrew Rural East constituency. Damion, a first-timer at the polls, kept his campaign lively, unifying, and issues-focussed; the voters call him âthe peopleâs gladiatorâ.
In a vain quest for a possible victory, the JLP decided to accept Bruce Goldingâs resignation as Leader and embrace the 39-year-old Andrew Holness as successor. âPrince Andrewâ as he was dubbed, lasted not even three months, then was booted out. In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the NDP in 2000 accepted the 55-year-old Arnhim Eustace, the darling of the self-proclaimed moneyed and backward-looking elites, lost five months later at the polls in early 2001. He again lost in 2005 and 2010. He is now a 67-year-old who wants yet another chance to satisfy the moneyed class and reactionary elites who finance the demonisation of Ralph, the self-defeating narrow âfiscalâ stance of austerity, and the consequential damning of the poor and the nation.
Elections across the region do provide interesting lessons for us in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Will the NDP learn from the fates of the JLP in Jamaica, and the United Workersâ Party of St. Lucia (the NDPâs sister parties)? I doubt! Surely, they show no signs of learning. By the way, have the anti-Ralph columnists, radio commentators and bloggers learnt any lessons, too?
Hans King