Local government election a waste of time, money

THE EDITOR: Why should voters waste their effort of going out to vote for local government officials when, no matter who wins, nothing will change except the fortunes of the winning candidates? Most voters are cognizant of that, so they stay away in droves.

Despite the parties bringing out their superstars to support their candidates, like the PM, the Opposition Leader, and the leaders of the other parties, this year was no different from previous LGEs, with less than one-third of eligible voters participating. Moreover, elections cost the taxpayers millions of dollars in lost productive time, and the central government illegal use of state resources for electioneering and advertising.

The LGE outcome changes nothing, except it gives the winning party bragging rights when the main event, the general election, rolls around in two years. Therefore, instead of wasting scarce funds that only benefit the ruling party, why not roll both elections into a significant event and make election day a time when people of all stripes can do their civic duty and show that voting is a democratic right that everyone should embrace and participate, and which no party can misappropriate.

We need a constitutional amendment to make voting day a public holiday so that no one will have an excuse for not going to the polls.

Furthermore, the selection of election day should be decided by someone other than the party in power, as it now stands. Doing so is unprincipled and unworthy of a free society.

On election day, all parties should be shoulder-to-shoulder at the starting block. But we know that they will never agree if the PNM holds the reins of power. The only hope for this nation to progress democratically is that in the upcoming general election, the PNM will receive the same fate that was delivered to them in Tobago.

While some smaller parties like Gary Griffith’s NTA knew the only hope for TT was for all the PNM foes to come together, there are still others, like Phillip Alexander’s PEP and Duke’s PDP, and even Farley Augustine’s new party, the TPP, who should have seized the opportunity to sweep the PNM out of power in the local government which would have set the stage for a general election showdown. The combined strength of these disparate parties could easily hand the PNM their biggest defeat ever.

However, their egos got in the way; by not joining forces with the alliance, they proved to the electorate that they were not yet mature enough to do what it takes to be in the winner’s circle.

REX CHOOKOLINGO

via e-mail