Dear Editor,
Let me confess that I do like the Dutch system of political parties and voting outside of constituencies (in contrast to the British system in many territories surrounding us). It has the major advantage that political platforms are made more clear and precise. It works well in the Netherlands, and allows for the voter to get a clear picture of who stands for what, and make a clear voting choice. You avoid the two-party confusion of the “large tent” variety in which each party has a mixture of positions that are somehow coalesced into one because the structure determines that there can only be two parties in the system.
I like the system, but it does not work on Sint Maarten at the present. The question is whether it will ever work?
If it were to ever work, then it would at least require political parties to make clear their positions and for voters to vote on those positions rather than on the likeability or otherwise of their leaders, the quality of their parties, or other less rational criteria. At this stage, it is impossible to judge whether voters would vote on that basis, because the clarity of platforms has, to date, been limited.
Creating the policy position of a political party is not an easy thing to do. The nature of election success is that the parties prefer to dwell on those aspects of what they will do that are immediately attractive to the voter, and to avoid mentioning the trade-offs and costs that are necessary to make them happen. The current strategy is for parties to focus exclusively on the easily-digestible parts of their intentions, and to avoid, like the plague, the less attractive.
This happens in the Netherlands as well of course. The difference is that good media put pressure on the politicians to expose their intentions more fully and make them comparable to other party offerings. Effective media would, for instance, ensure that if a political party says that they will solve the problem of the garbage dump, then they will press them to define where the funds to do this will come from. Will they come from higher taxation or from reduced tertiary education subsidy, or from savings in public works? How would they capitalize such a project and what guarantees will they give to whom?
Here is my hope:
(1) If the political parties get greater pressure from media and the electorate to define their platforms, the individual politicians will be more tied to those positions and less likely to jump ship.
(2) As the political parties identify themselves with a line of thought, the political parties will become stronger organizations, a shortcoming that has been correctly identified by President of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams.
(3) As members of parliament are better tested prior to election, there is a chance of them being better prepared to actually execute the legislative and policy work of Parliament.
(4) As the political parties have more clearly-defined platforms, the likelihood of a sustainable coalition for the full four-year period, and the greater likelihood of some of the major problems in the country being tackled.
Critical to this happening is the media playing a role, and I refer to the media including print, radio, TV and social media. Which of them are the most likely and the least likely to be responsible journalists in this coming election period?
z Recently, I was advised in a social discussion that Sint Maarten needs to become politically mature. It would not surprise me if many persons held such a view. I would point out then that political maturity is not a national characteristic that will necessarily grow naturally with time. It can be seeded, fertilized, watered and encouraged, especially with the responsible media and voters demanding a more complete understanding of the planned policies of each party, rather than vague good intentions that can never be checked later.
Robbie Ferron
