An alliance between the People’s Party for Democracy and Development (PdP) and the United Progressive Party (UPP) has been pronounced ‘dead on arrival’ by two of the country’s leading political pundits.
University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturer, Dr Kristina Hinds declared that, although stronger together, the “marriage of convenience” would falter over its failure to attract mass-based support.
Meanwhile, pollster, Peter Wickham, believes the merger may be taking much-needed support from the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), which is considered Government’s strongest opponent.
On Thursday, Opposition Leader, Bishop Joseph Atherley added to a week of political surprises with one of his own, announcing that the two parties would unite under the name ‘Alliance Party for Progress’. Along with UPP founder Lynette Eastmond, the organisations have vowed to “preserve” Barbadian democracy.
But Dr Hinds warned that they will have a lot of work to do to convince the electorate to vote for their candidates, many of whom are believed to be new to public life.
“I am not certain that this coalition will be very stable because this is something that has been stitched together for an election and it may be a marriage of convenience, rather than a long-term strategy to build a mass-based political party,” Dr Hinds told Barbados TODAY.
“Both the UPP and the PdP have the problem of not having a mass base and if they want to be taken seriously either separately or together, they need to build that,” she warned.
The UWI lecturer noted that Atherley’s overall experience and ability to win a seat in the last election would be a useful asset.
However, Wickham was adamant that Atherley, who crossed the floor weeks after the May 2018 polls, secured his seat “on the coattails of Mia Mottley”. He then dismissed the UPP as irrelevant over their failure to amass more than three per cent of the popular vote during the 2018 poll.
“It’s dead on arrival. I think that’s a good way to put it… I don’t think that either of them is a significant player and I think the merger of the two doesn’t make a huge difference. I think, however, that it will be a blow to the Democratic Labour Party, because ultimately, the more third party activity we have, the more it divides people who are not prepared to support the Barbados Labour Party,” said Wickham.
Like Dr Hinds, Wickham criticised the absence of a solid philosophical stance from the less established parties, with the exception of Solutions Barbados. Historically, he noted that the DLP is known for its push toward independence, free education, and other social goods based on the philosophy of its founder, Errol Barrow. Wickham added that the Barbados Labour Party has its own philosophical underpinnings.
“I don’t really get that from the UPP and the PdP. They have not taken a central position to say ‘this is what I stand for’ and ultimately, that is what we look for in a political party,” said the pollster.
Dr Hinds on the other hand believes both of the two major political parties will lose votes to the alliance, as some voters search for alternatives.
“So it is something to take into consideration, but I would say that that is true of any of the additional parties contending in these elections. So all of these small numbers and votes that get picked off could have gone to either of the two established political parties of the BLP and the DLP,” said the lecturer. kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb
