Today’s news that “formateur” Sarah Wescot-Williams submitted her final report to Governor Eugene Holiday on December 30 (see related story) is most welcome. It means the UP/DP/Brownbill coalition government may finally be installed this week.
None too quickly, mind you, because any hope of the widely-undesired election scheduled for February 26 being postponed had been fast diminishing. After all, Friday is Nomination Day and without the prospect of a new Council of Ministers in place to take that step before then, an early return to the polls next month with the country still reeling from the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Irma seemed increasingly likely.
Granted, delaying the already-initiated process of dissolving Parliament and voting a new one into office would not be very elegant in a constitutional and democratic sense, but nevertheless preferable under the current exceptional circumstances. However, the longer it takes the more difficult and controversial such a decision obviously becomes.
As much as certain politicians will want to sell it, many people understandably just aren’t interested in a campaign at this time. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but asking voters to go back to the polls when they are struggling to overcome immense hardship created by the island’s worse natural disaster ever was clearly a bad idea from the beginning.
Besides, while the incoming government is to have a transitional status, a vote so soon after taking office severely limits what they can accomplish. The – also interim – William Marlin Cabinet I used similar arguments to postpone a snap election for several months.
Some will no doubt disagree, but now doing the same again – if at all possible – appears to be most reasonable and pragmatic way to go.
