Editorial | Democracy can’t be cynical

This newspaper is happy for the people who live in North East St Ann.

We are not so for the constituents of South Trelawny. On September 21 they will have been without a member of parliament for a year, since the resignation of their MP, Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert.

Neither is The Gleaner contented for the residents of the Morant Bay division of the St Thomas Municipal Corporation. Their councillor, Rohan Bryan, died on May 1. The legislation says that a by-election for a successor should have taken place within three months of his death.

But on seemingly spurious grounds, purportedly having to do with the passage of Hurricane Beryl in July, the law was amended to delay the vote.

With respect to North East St Ann, the parliamentary representative, Marsha Smith, resigned on Tuesday. The following day Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced a by-election for September 30.

This is probably a record for the speed with which a vacancy will be filled in Jamaica’s Parliament – a mere 27 days between Ms Smith’s resignation and the election of her replacement.

Were we cynical, The Gleaner might have assumed that the people of North East St Ann will happen to benefit from Machiavellian machinations by Prime Minister Holness, having to do with finding a replacement for the finance minister, Nigel Clarke, who is resigning to join the International Monetary Fund.

We, however, prefer to see the issue as another case in favour of constitutional reform, to lessen the capacity for narrowly partisan calculations in the timing of elections and to enhance the right of citizens to representation.

Indeed, this is a deeply moral matter, with its foundation in democracy. That is why we commend it to both Prime Minister Holness and the Opposition leader, Mark Golding, although neither seems inclined to weightier questions.

Neither the Jamaican Constitution nor the Representation of the People Act (ROPA) establishes a specific time frame within which by-elections are to be held to fill vacancies in the national parliament. That is largely the prerogative of the prime minister.

AMENDED TO ACCOMMODATE

However, ROPA, as amended to accommodate the Local Governance Act of 2016, does so with respect to municipal councils.

Such elections are to be held:

“ (a) on a day within three months after a vacancy has been entered in the minutes of the council; or

(b) within three months after a notice in writing of the occurrence of the vacancy has been given to the chairperson of the municipal corporation by two persons entitled to vote in the last election of a councillor in that division…”

An election, though, won’t be held if the vacancy occurs within a year to the next municipal general election. Which is the principle to which Mr Golding’s People’s National Party (PNP) suggests it is adhering by opting out of the St Ann by-election, but will contest the municipal ones.

It isn’t as yet clear why Prime Minister Holness considers a by-election in North East St Ann – a safe seat for his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) – such an urgent matter.

Several months ago, JLP held a series of demonstrations against Ms Smith, claiming her to be an absent and feckless MP. She, however, remained in Parliament. The governing party, though, made it clear that Matthew Samuda, a member of the Senate and the minister with responsibility for the environment and water, would replace her at the next vote. That, it was presumed, would be at the general election, due by next September.

The only immediately obvious thing that has changed is Dr Clarke’s imminent resignation and Prime Minister Holness’ need to fill the slot with someone who, as is required by the Constitution, is a member of the House of Representatives. No one, however, had seriously contemplated Mr Samuda, at this point, as a possible successor.

POLITICAL CALCULUS

What people are, however, now concerned about is the apparent prime ministerial whim, political calculus, cynicism even, that can be applied to calling elections.

Mr Holness, of course, isn’t the first prime minister to employ the tactic of delay, as is happening with the Dalrymple-Philibert and St Thomas council seats. After Francis Tulloch’s resignation, the People’s National Party’s (PNP) leader, P.J. Patterson, left the St James North Western parliamentary seat open for two years, until the 2002 general election.

Such tactics may be deemed to be smart politics. Fundamentally, though, they are undemocratic. They place parties’ interest above the democratic good, and deprive people of representation.

Some Westminster-style countries have fixed dates, or specific periods within which by-elections must be held. The Canadians, who have a fixed date for general elections, require that by-elections be announced between 11 and 180 days after vacancies are formally confirmed. A minimum of 36, and up to 50 days are allowed for campaigning.

Some Canadian prime ministers have attempted to exploit these timelines to the hilt, but in recent years there have been, with success, efforts to rein them in.

Outside of when MPs face recall, there is no formal time frame for the holding by-elections in the UK, where the Commons issues the writ of an election. The convention, however, is that by-elections are held within three months of the declaration of a vacancy.

We believe that principle should apply in Jamaica and be among the issues on the agenda of the Constitutional Reform Committee, when it is reconstituted, joining the question of a fixed date for general elections.

Leader updated September 6, correcting the name of the constituency in paragraph one, and date of the by-election in paragraph five.