By Jeffers Joseph From Caribbean News Now

There is a new style of “last minute election announcement” date, which has been spreading across the Caribbean, and many countries in the region – predominantly the less developed ones – are seemingly jumping on the bandwagon. Some political leaders appear convinced that the secret to prevailing in elections, hence remaining in power for as long as possible, is by imposing snap elections on their electorates.

Whether for reasons of expediency – i.e. to capitalize on some unique political advantage – or to allow the voters and or the opponents limited preparation time, last-minute election announcements appear to be the in-thing. Although most of our region’s leaders have largely been in conformity with the traditionally democratic practice of allowing the populace adequate time to prepare for an election, a few less democratic ones have notably deviated to the more autocratic style of short notice.

In addition to this trending short notice is the practice of bribery. To further ensure that their opponents are plunged into a more onerous, hence disadvantaged position, leaders use their superior monetary power to bribe electorates. By strategically suppressing the people into dependency, incumbent governments prey on voters’ vulnerability by using the country’s revenue to endow lavish amounts of money, materials and other resources in exchange for votes.

We saw Dominica, St Kitts and, most recently, St Vincent aggressively mobilize diasporans by subsidizing their travel expenses to infiltrate selective constituencies, thus creating more voting advantage. Such illegalities are totally nondemocratic and infringe on people’s fundamental rights. In addition, given that typically oppositions are strapped for resources, they do not stand a chance at victory.

St Lucia’s prime minister, for example, now on his second reign in that capacity, not consecutively, just announced June 6 as the date scheduled for voters to go to the polls. Essentially, this unfairly allows St Lucians a little over two weeks to make an informed and educated decision as to the candidate most qualified to represent them.

This time-constraint tactic is clearly designed to allow the opposition as little time as possible to debate the incumbent government’s policies. In this regard, the opposition finds itself backed into a corner in its disadvantageous position to adequately present the other side of the political argument to the people.

Such procedural diversions have not only been nondemocratic, but disenfranchising to a people’s rights to free and fair elections.

Similarly, Dominicans are by no means strangers to the snap-elections phenomenon. In recent times, they have seen the conventional “well in advance” call for elections quickly become a thing of the past. Recall that in both the 2009 and 2014 elections very short notice was given; as a consequence, the voters saw their fundamental democratic rights infringed upon as the campaign time allotted the other side was minuscule.

Furthermore, in a desperate attempt to surmount their opponents, Dominicans saw the government infuse tens of millions of taxpayers’ dollars into those campaigns. These monies were squandered on importing diasporans as well as buying votes from local constituents simply to deprive the opposition any chance at triumph. In that regard, the ruling party was able to cruise its way to victory virtually unchallenged.

Opposition from the masses to this new unjust custom appears slow in coming; however, rest assured that this seemingly carefree approach is not expected to remain the same for too long. Inevitably, the people will eventually wake up to the fact that spontaneous elections can only work against their interests. Only then will they rise up in protest.

But, whether to capitalize on a unique or advantageous opportunity or for the purpose of accumulating increased majorities for the incumbent party, snap elections can produce anticlimactic outcomes. The real caveat is that they don’t always turn out to be an ace in the hole. Irrespective of the fact that the political climate may seem to be working in a government’s favour, on the contrary, it may in fact be far from the actual truth.

Oftentimes there is no guarantee that the signals being sent by the populace are accurate. Due to such quandary, we see autocratic leaders resort to creative measures designed to persuade electors to cast votes in their favour. My guess is, however, that as voters become more educated and astute to the insidious nature of snap elections, they will inevitably revolt.

In other words, very soon the populace will come to the realization that short-notice calls for elections are inherently working against their welfare. To underestimate their sophistication would be a huge mistake.

Jeffers Joseph.jpg
Jeffers Joseph has worked as an accountant and a real estate broker, as well as a former police officer. Upon completion of his education at the Dominica Grammar High School in Dominica, he completed a business degree at Baruch College in New York. He has published three books: ‘Money Misery and Murder’, ‘Friends with Deficits’ and ‘Democracy’s Hypocrisies’.

For more on this story go to: http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/headline-Commentary%3A-Snap-elections—A-new-style-of-Caribbean-politics-30514.html