Thank goodness that by the time you read this, the United States Virgin Islands runoff election will be over. Why did we have to be bombarded all hours of the day with their electioneering adverts? Were they aimed at Virgin Islanders here who can vote over there? Or US Virgin Islanders who listen to our radio stations? Or Virgin Islanders over there who listen to our radio stations and have a vote?

We have enough to worry about ourselves, even leaving aside the possible disintegration of the United Kingdom government over the Brexit negotiations, which could lead to a general election that could affect our financial position both in the offshore sector and in the backing of recovery loans.

 

NDP ‘disintegration’

To see the disintegration of the National Democratic Party and government before our eyes is worrying indeed. They originally came to power sweeping out the 13-year-old VI Party powerhouse with great ideas. Remember “Government in the Sunshine”? I think the NDP stole the slogan from Antigua after seeing similar posters down there. What happened to it? Once in power they realised there could be no such thing, and things have gone steadily downhill.
How the party members could elect a new leader who obviously does not have the backing and confidence of his fellow legislators is beyond me. Were there no caucuses? A possible by-election has been sensibly called off in favour of waiting for the upcoming general election due next year. And what sort of a government will we end up with? There are likely to be several “parties” or “factions” vying for seats in the legislature, and knowing the fickleness of a lot of our electorate, envelopes and white goods will be touted on the streets for votes.

 

Coalition government?

We could quite easily end up with 13 successful candidates from a variety of parties and with no one group in the majority. If that is the case, there will be a lot of closed-door manoeuvring to form alignments.

This will pose a dilemma for the governor. We could end up with a coalition with no party in control, or party groupings, each vying for the best outcome for themselves. Legislation is likely to suffer even more that it does now, with everyone wanting their own agenda. Look at the infighting over the Rehabilitation Act. No wonder the UK government doesn’t trust us to spend for the good of the territory.

Before an election we should see the following, which are not all down to one party: (a) the result of the medical school feasibility study; (b) the result of the drag race track study; (c) the Tortola Pier Park audit; (d) government spending audits for the last however many years they have not been published; (e) the financial details of BVI Airways; (f) the high school wall; (g) the Sea Cows Bay harbour project; (h) the greenhouse finances; (i) the real finances of the hospital project; (j) and the real finances of the Beef Island bridge. I am sure readers can think of others.

Anyway, a happy Thanksgiving to all, not that it is our holiday and right now we have precious little to be thankful for, unless it’s a lack of hurricanes this year.