Home
» Articles »
Trinidad breaks stalemate
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO has ended some nine months of parliamentary
stalemate with its third election in three years. The incumbent
People's National Movement (PNM), headed by Patrick Manning,
has defeated Basdeo Panday's United National Congress (UNC),
winning 20 of the 36 seats.
Mr.
Panday was the first Indo-Trinidian to have headed the government
of a country in which the sharp racial division parallels
the political divide. The 18-18 split in parliamentary seats
from last December led to the long stalemate.
From
this distance it seems remarkable that our sister CARICOM
nation could have functioned administratively for so long
without a working parliament. For one, the Panday-led opposition
refused to co-operate in the election of a Speaker. Hence
last Monday's election to break the deadlock.
The
closest we here in Jamaica have come to this kind of parliamentary
aberration was the 1983 election, which was boycotted by the
PNP. But that one-party parliament survived until 1989 without
any attempt to damage the democratic processes at this level.
In fact, it is to the credit of the Seaga-led government of
the period that the notion of independent Senators was introduced
to temper the monopoly of a JLP administration.
Trinidadian
governments operate in a more sharply divided political culture,
which is exacerbated by the racial cleavage between Afro-
and Indo-Trinidadians.
Manning's
return to power, this time with a workable majority, may spell
the political demise of the 69-year-old Panday, according
to political observers. In the aftermath of the election,
he has spoken of the need to work for constitutional reform
and for national unity.
The
contemplated reform, we presume, may be a reference to the
even number of parliamentary seats which caused the deadlock.
That consideration is also relevant to Jamaica's 60-seat elected
chamber and should also be considered in our own reform objectives.
Trinidad's
relatively short election campaign was said to be acrimonious
but the polling itself was practically incident-free. Our
current violence-prone activity is, sadly, in sharp contrast.
The
opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily
reflect the views of the gleaner.
|