The seduction of power, especially with the flow of oil wealth, seems too great to allow for compromise

Dec 31, 2019 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

Mr Ramkarran in his column “Small parties’ concerns are a distinct feature of the coming elections” carried in another newspaper writes “The significance of small parties on this occasion is not what amount of votes they will capture but whether one or more together will hold the balance of power, as APNU and AFC together did in 2011”.
While this may be true, the problem is the multiplicity of new small parties, a total of fourteen reported by one newspaper. They are likely to split the small percent of uncommitted votes, thereby preventing any from gaining a seat or more in parliament to hold the balance of power.
We know that in 2011the PPP was forced to prorogue parliament and hold elections because of a one seat deficit in parliament. Then in December, 2018, a one seat vote from the government bench in support of the PPP’s No Confidence Motion led to the fall of the APNU-AFC government. In 2015, the four small parties in the elections were unable to gain together a total of 2500 votes. The United Republican Party, one of the four, received 418 votes. In 2020, if each of the 14 new parties receives 418 votes, none will obtain a seat and one seat will go to either of the two major parties. Should 2020 follow the trend of the previous two elections, the small parties would not achieve what Mr. Ramkarran is hoping for. Hopefully, the Liberty and Justice Party will gain support in the Amerindian community and be able to hold the balance of power.
Mr Ramkarran continues “At these elections, the seriousness of the issues raised by small parties, and their commonality, are a distinct feature and distinguish them from most of those of the past”. This begs the question – If there is such commonality as stated, why can’t these small parties unite to ensure a degree of success? To me, the respective leadership of these parties suffers from the same malady as the leadership of the two major parties. As the 1985 Tears for Fears song says “Everybody wants to rule the world”, the seduction of power, especially with the flow of oil wealth, seems too great to allow for compromise.

Harry Hergash

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