#BTColumn – Democracy: alive and well but . . .

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Peter Laurie

There are few countries in the world — maybe even none — in which, if one party won all of the seats in the legislature, no one would even think of challenging the result.

This happened in Barbados in 2018, a testament to the vitality of our democracy. Now we are only a couple of weeks away from the next election. Yet, we ought not to be complacent.

First of all, this election is taking place in the midst of the worst pandemic that the modern world has seen. It therefore cannot be business as usual. It is highly likely that on election day, the 19th of January, thousands of people may be in involuntary isolation due to the highly transmissible omicron variant.

These people, if they are registered to vote, should not be disenfranchised. The Electoral and Boundaries Commission should arrange for those people to cast their ballot.

No democracy is without flaws and is thus always open to improvement.
So we must take the opportunity after this election to have a robust public discussion about the nature of our democracy as part of the promised process of constitutional reform.

This is all the more crucial because today democracy is threatened worldwide by the rise of populist autocracies and extreme nativist, ultra-national and racist movements.

The US itself is now in danger of descending into autocracy or chaos if the Trumpists pull off the coup they’re threatening to do.

We’re lucky to have enjoyed democratic political stability since the 1950s. Had not a faction of the BLP broken away and formed the DLP in 1955, I don’t know where we would be today, because these two parties have alternated in office since then, offering the electorate a clear choice.

Moreover, there is no ideological divide between the two parties so there are no wrenching dislocations when one party succeeds the other in office.

Third parties have enjoyed little success in Barbados, not even the National Democratic Party, that broke away in 1989 from the governing DLP. The NDP was led by the highly popular heir-apparent to Errol Barrow, Richie Haynes.

Third parties in Barbados have always tended to be rooted in the disgruntlement of the person who leads them with little attempt to create a grassroots base. Nothing much has changed.

This raises an interesting point. Our present electoral system of ‘first-past-the-post’ (FPP) favours a two-party system. Its drawback, however, is that the number of seats won by a party often does not coincide with the percentage of the popular vote won, leaving some voters effectively disenfranchised.

A classic instance was 1994 when the NDP won almost 13 per cent of the popular vote but only one seat.

The usual alternative to FPP is proportional representation (PR), under which a party’s number of seats won usually coincides with its percentage of the popular vote.

But the drawback of PR is that it often leads to minuscule parties with little or no grassroots support winning seats in parliament, resulting in unstable coalition governments and legislative gridlock.

Bajans will have to choose.

Under our system the prime minister wields a lot of power.

On the one hand, this can, and usually does, lead to arrogance and increasing intolerance of dissenting opinions, especially after a first term in office.

On the other hand, Bajans like a strong leader with vision who gets things done.

I am not for term limits of a prime minister but support fixed five-year limits for elections, strengthening the powers and functions of parliament vis-a-vis the executive, and limiting the size of the Cabinet to 30 per cent of the elected parliament.

Moreover, we might like to consider whether the prime minister might appoint a cabinet of persons entirely outside of parliament, but with the House having to approve those nominations by a simple majority.

Dr. Peter Laurie is a retired permanent secretary and head of the Foreign Service who once served as Barbados’ Ambassador to the United States.