How to counter an election deadlock

Published in the Jamaica Gleaner: Friday | August 10, 2007

We note the concern raised by constitutional expert Dr. Lloyd Barnett that the country could find itself in a constitutional nightmare if the upcoming parliamentary elections result in a tie. It is a concern we share.

Several opinion polls have indicated a very close race between the governing People's National Party and the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party with a real possibility that each could secure 30 seats in the 60-member House of Representatives.

We have had a divisive and violent political history in this country and the situation has improved since the dark period leading up to the 1980 election, it still presents a major challenge for our fledgling democracy.

During the run-up to these elections, there have been several acts of political violence, resulting in a loss of lives and there are disturbing signs in some constituencies, which suggest there could be more to come.

An election tie in this volatile political environment would, as Dr. Barnett suggests, leave this country in a state of confusion, tenseness and fragility.

The 2001 general election tie in our sister Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago sparked great chaos in that country as its constitution, which is similar to ours, made no provision for such a scenario. The President was left in the impossible position of naming a Prime Minister who did not command the support of a majority in the House of Representatives.

A re-run of the election eventually settled the matter with the People's National Movement breaking the deadlock, but that bitter experience has since led that country to increase the number of parliamentary seats from 36 to 41 - creating an odd-number House of Representatives.

Following the crisis in Trinidad and Tobago, there was much talk here about moving to an odd number of constituencies as well. Some steps were taken in this regard with the then Electoral Advisory Committee proposing an increase in the number of seats from 60 to an upper limit of 65.

Unfortunately, there seems to have been some inertia on the part of our legislators to push through this change. The failure to deal with this issue has now left us in a precarious position, but this newspaper believes that it is not too late to put in place a political arrangement to head-off the potential chaos that could arise from a tie.

We, therefore, suggest to Governor-General Professor Kenneth Hall that he move with the greatest urgency to meet with Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and Opposition Leader Bruce Golding with a view to broker a political compromise between the two leaders as a way forward should the unthinkable happen.

It is better to have an agreement in place before the elections rather than seek a compromise in the unpredictable and heated atmosphere that would surround a deadlock.

Such an agreement between the leaders would need to deal with the crucial issue of a timeframe for re-run of the election, as well as the person who would lead the government while those arrangements are put in place. For example, an interim Prime Minister could be appointed on the basis of which party won the popular vote. There are other formulations that could be thrown into the talks.

Thecountry has delayed on this issue for a long time, and now we have very few options with which to work. We can rely on luck to see us through as it has done before or we can put plans into place to prevent a potentially dangerous situation.

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