What next for local govt?

Notwithstanding a series of nationwide consultation events and a frenetic election campaign, the population yawned on Monday. If the election results say anything, it is that people did not feel sufficiently motivated to come out and vote in high numbers.

The PNM may disagree with this assessment of the implications, but no leader can comfortably regard an election in which less than 20 percent voted as a compelling “mandate” to do anything.

While local government elections typically have lower turnouts than general elections, it has been said that the turnout this time around was the lowest in history.

It will be for the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) to release official, confirmed results in coming days.

As usual, both major political parties have claimed victory.

And they do have grounds to do so. The PNM won seven corporations and is poised to hold on to an eighth.

At the same time, the UNC made inroads, winning more corporations than when it was in the middle of its term as the main partner in the People’s Partnership (PP). There were actually two local government elections during the PP’s reign.

The first, in 2010, was won convincingly by the PP 10-3. That was only months after the coalition’s convincing victory in that year’s general election. Momentum may have been still in play, especially since the Patrick Manning administration had effectively suspended local government elections for three years prior, ostensibly chasing reform.

This time around, there was more space between the PNM’s 2015 general election victory and this local government poll. The party, while in Opposition, won eight to the UNC’s five.

While both parties have something to cheer, they also have much to be concerned about. The general apathy of the population suggests only grassroots supporters remained engaged in their discourse.

The EBC also has serious questions to answer.

In the wake of the commission’s notorious conduct during the 2015 election and the ensuing Supreme Court ruling against the commission for unilaterally changing the rules on poll day, all eyes were on the body. While no organisation is expected to be 100 percent perfect, the baffling shifting of a polling station on the morning of the election (due to what Chief Election Officer Ramesh Nanan reportedly described as an “administrative error”) is deeply alarming.

If the EBC cannot be trusted to get the matter of the location of polling stations right, how can it be trusted to count votes, to confirm results? Unfortunately, the EBC can also be criticised in relation to the tie in Sangre Grande. Why were the boundaries of that corporation never shifted so as to ensure there was an odd number of seats on the council? PNM chairman Franklin Khan has signalled the possibility of legislative action to devise a tie-breaker mechanism. Yet, some argue that the convention that the incumbent stays in office during a tie should remain.

We agree that democracy should never come down to something as random as the drawing of straws and, therefore, do not agree with those who say that provision should have remained in the reformed law. Rather, it was for those who are charged with drawing up boundaries to do their job to ensure ties are avoided. Indeed, it is baffling that about half of the corporations have even numbers of seats. If the Government wants to reform, that’s one place to start.