I am writing this article on Thursday morning, February 7, 2008.
It is Friday morning, February 8, 2008. Yesterday, 157,393 electors were entitled to go to the polls and elect 31 members of the House of Representatives, out of which a new government will be formed – Red or Blue.
It will be a new government even if the People’s United Party is returned to office. In the present government the PUP has a majority of 21 seats to the UDP’s 8 seats. It is unlikely that the composition of the House will remain the same, and conventional wisdom is certain that there will be a change of government from Blue to Red after the votes have been counted. So. By now, the people have spoken and there is a new government being readied to hold their first meeting of the House to begin their five-year term of office.
I am thinking of two scenarios. The first is that conventional wisdom was right, and the political analysts of much experience and penetrating judgement were correct. The United Democratic Party has just won an overwhelming victory and it is time for the Red to celebrate. Their flags with the six polka dots are everywhere and jubilant crowds assemble and march the streets of Belize City shouting words of triumph over their Blue rivals, taunting them and perhaps assaulting them wherever they dare to show themselves.
The Blue are crestfallen, but they have strong leaders who have experienced losing before and they know that in a few days, the euphoria will die down and the Red will have to begin the daunting task of governing a people who always have high expectations. The government will have to find a way to deliver on its promises, regardless of what forces, natural and manmade, are arraigned against it.
The Blue will lick their wounds and try and find reasons for their defeat, and persons to blame for it. The Blue will not complain about the performance of the Elections and Boundaries and the public officers who actually conduct the elections. They have faith in the electoral system because they played a large part in setting it up.
In a couple of weeks, when they have discovered what went wrong with their campaign and what made their opponents successful, they will start to plan for the next election. They might even bemoan the fact that they did not include in the referendum a question to the electorate about their preference for a FOUR- or FIVE- year term, when they had the chance. And, perhaps also to have included in the referendum whether there should be a fixed election date, as has been proposed by a well-respected columnist of this newspaper.
The second scenario is surprise, surprise. How could the political analysts have been so mistaken? According to them, there was no way the Blue could win the election. The best they could hope for was to lose by a small margin, say 5 to 7 seats. But, by the Hand of the Almighty perhaps, because He does not like ill will (the Red seem to have a personal dislike for the Blue government), the Blue have won the general elections. The margin is immaterial. They have won, against all odds, and will form a new government.
Is it possible that if the impossible happens, the Red will be able to contain their disappointment and anger. It is true they have lost before when they were certain of winning. Their reaction then, does not give us much reassurance that they will be able to control their ire this time.
The eyes of the world will be on Belize. Heretofore, our country has been a shining light of democracy in the region, much given to overreaction to unfavorable results at the polls. Our nation has the right to expect all candidates, parties and supporters to conduct themselves as befitting a people who deserve to be united, free and sovereign.
Now that the elections are over, there is a certain matter that Belizeans must reflect upon. On the day before the elections, a football team carrying the flag of our nation, with the strains of our Belizean Anthem echoing in their ears and hopefully in their hearts, took the field in the Mateos Lopez Stadium in Guatemala City to play a HOME GAME against St. Kitts/Nevis, in a qualifying match in the first round of CONCACAF eliminations for the World Cup. These young men are the product of our culture, traditions and educational system and, yet, they have let themselves be led by a Pied Piper in the person of the President of the Football Federation of Belize and his executive, to commit an act of treachery against their native land.
I will not refer to the president of FFB by name (although you and I know who he is), nor will I list the names of the members of his executive (I don’t know who they are) but, these persons are jointly guilty of bringing the nation state of Belize into disgrace. This is an event that we should all feel passionately about, and should have done whatever was necessary to prevent. But, now that it is done, I think we should come together as a nation and demand that the guilty ones account to us for their perfidy.
Finally, I think that it is in the national interest that those who have been honored by the people by being elected to the House of Representatives conduct themselves, from now on, with a high regard for the honor and dignity of our nation’s highest and most revered institution.