Black Monkey

Well, the verdict of the Jamaican voter has been heard, and it cannot have been received by either party with undiluted pleasure. As things stand, and it has to be pointed out that the PNP has refused to concede and has promised to engage in recounts and to register complaints regarding malpractice by the other side in some constituencies, the JLP has won the popular vote by a margin of about 3,000 and has won 31 of the 50 seats in the House of Representatives. On the face of it though, this seems like a pyrrhic victory, one which flew in the face of the burgeoning optimism which the party had begun to feel in the run-up to the election. With such a razor-thin majority, government will be difficult with the job of managing the house being next to impossible. A single absence could scupper a vital government initiative, this is all the more so given the necessity of selecting a speaker. The ambitious agenda outlined in the JLP's election manifesto looks unattainable in this term. It would not be surprising then if Mr. Golding and his colleagues looked upon this result with some bitterness. They have been given stewardship of the offices of state without being given the ability to wield the attendant powers effectively. In truth, they have achieved a lot. On Mrs. Simpson-Miller's ascension to power, she seemed unbeatable. Indeed, had she called an election at the time, she would now be well into her own mandate. Mr. Golding played an important role in whittling down her image and in frustrating the attempt by the PNP to run away from its legacy and running as the annointed Portia's acolytes.
The PNP will of course be confronting the sting of defeat, the need to vacate offices held for nearly two decades, and the process of re-examination that ought to attend any unsuccessful enterprise. Mrs. Simpson-Miller, the trump card, did not quite pull it off and one imagines that knives will come out for her. In truth, "Mamma P" spared many a Party blush as, following a litany of scandals and generally poor government, the PNP has still managed to hold on to 29 seats, a position of considerable influence, with the likelihood that the JLP government will not be able to last for a full term. The prospect of office is still detectable in the air! Whether she is the right sort of Leader of the Opposition in a context in which manoeuvres in the House of Representatives will be immensely important, will need to be decided quickly. This will have to be undertaken while always bearing in mind that many Jamaicans regard attacks on Mrs. Simpson-Miller as attacks on their social stratum as a whole. The other note of caution for the PNP is that this election result can be interpreted as an entreaty from the populace for the political parties to attempt to work together for the good of the country. Too much politicking, done too soon, could be very off-putting for many voters.
At the end of the day, I am not a democratista. Like Churchill, I can only make a negative case for democracy, as being the worst of all possible systems but for the rest. One heard in the coverage of the Jamaican Election that many people had probably not bothered to turn up to vote because they assumed that their party had things sewn up. Others couldn't rise to casting a ballot because they wished to go in to work early. It seems unfortunate that such vital decisions as those inherent in elections are in the hands of such uninterested persons, but there it is. If both parties rise to the challenge, the next five years could signal a maturation of our politics in which the tenuous balance of parliament required cooperation by both parties in the formulation of policy. One is mindful that this was the forlorn hope in 2002, when the margin was a comparatively large 34-26 for the PNP, I seem to recall. Perhaps things are now so close that there will be no way of avoiding concerted, intelligent, action on the part of the political class, in service of the country as a whole. In closing though, one wonders what is to be done with all of those who talked of Portia as God's choice and brought our politics lower still by talking in terms of 'lucky' numbers and dates inter alia. I sincerely hope that they can be permanently excluded from meaningful future participation in our public life.