A challenging electoral system

May 09, 2013 Editorial

There is a severe disadvantage when people elect their representatives en bloc as opposed to those who elect theirs following an intense campaign in the various wards and constituencies. The latter is commonly referred to as First Past the Post system in the Westminster system.
This Westminster system prevailed in Guyana prior to the 1964 elections. The people who were effectively in control of the society, decided that a coalition of votes would have been enough to prevent the then Premier, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, from accessing the seat of Government. Of course the constitution that prevailed at the time, allowed for coalitions after the election. This is still the case in most other democracies.
In many European countries and in Israel there are these coalitions when no party secures a majority at the polls. There are some odd cases. In one case an individual who secured the smallest number of votes actually became the Head of State. This was because he held the balance of power. This was the individual who would have said to one political entity, “Give me the Prime Ministerial position and I will give your party parliamentary power.” This is a most powerful position from which to bargain.
The people who are elected must promise to serve the respective constituents. Needless to say, failure to deliver or to keep that promise often results in that person failing to be elected the next time around. This happens even in the United States when the candidates square off to contest the seats for the United States Congress.
In Guyana, there was one interesting fact. The race vote was always there except for the time when national fervor took precedence over anything else. The vote according to the constituents revealed that those areas that were populated predominantly by people of East Indian ancestry voted almost exclusively for the party that appeared to be predominantly Indian oriented.
It was the same with those wards that were populated almost predominantly by the other ethnic groups, to wit, the Portuguese descendants and those of African ancestry. Not much has changed since then except that people vote for a combined slate that allows no one to be held responsible for a particular constituency.
There is a widely held view that this absence of accountability to the people has resulted in uneven development countrywide. Developmental programmes are centrally planned and often without an input from the people who are going to be saddled with the project.
One example has now reared its head. The business community in the capital now says that the Marriott hotel being constructed by the government to attract the high end visitors should not have been a priority. This sentiment was echoed by the political opposition for more than a year. It is sad that it is only now, when actual construction has reached a far way that the people who are most likely to be affected are uttering their contention.
It is this same lack of accountability that has Georgetown in the sad state that it is. Gone are the days when people from the various wards sought election to the council to represent their individual neighbourhoods. Georgetown was better for it. There were no haphazard constructions and the building code was strictly adhered to.
There were residential areas and specific business areas. That has changed with the result that even the most affluent neighbourhood would have some aberration, perhaps some shop or some derelict vehicle parked on the streets.
The day has come when people, if there is to be meaningful development, must take back their communities and be allowed to manage it to the best of their ability. Plaisance decided that it did not want a tower in the middle of its playground and stopped that erection. Some locations in the city are paying for their garbage disposal but that is as far as community involvement goes.
We are now talking about restoring the city. The first thing is that we should change the electoral system to one in which the elected would be responsible for a given ward. And the success of this exercise should lead to the needed change in the national electoral system.

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A challenging electoral system

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