After members of Jamaica’s ruling People’s National Party (PNP) elected Portia Simpson Miller as their leader in February 2006, here’s the cautionary note I struck as I paid tribute to the historic precedent she set:It was not the result of a national election, but it still counts. Because, by being elected the new leader of Jamaica’s ruling People’s National Party (PNP) on Saturday, Portia Simpson Miller will automatically become Jamaica’s first female prime minister when PJ Patterson, the current PM, retires in a few weeks – after 14 years in power.Nevertheless, I am happy to celebrate her as the latest symbol of the “woman power politics” now spanning the globe.
Alas, last night, this caution proved well-founded. Because, after all of the votes were counted in Jamaica’s first national elections since she was effectively appointed prime minister, Mrs Simpson was rejected by the Jamaican people.Perhaps she can derive some consolation, however, from the fact that she lost to Bruce Golding of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) by a tantalizingly-slim margin. Nevertheless, the JLP wrested control of Jamaica’s 60-seat parliament by winning 31 seats to the PNP’s 29.
However perplexing some may find the results, the fact is that the people have spoken and we of the Jamaica Labour Party, we accept and respect the decision. [Golding showing appropriate regard for his razor-thin mandate in his victory speech last night]
But I disagree with the prevailing view that Simpson Miller deserved to lose because she stumbled in her response to Hurricane Dean two weeks ago, the way President Bush did in his response to Hurricane Katrina two years ago. And this, notwithstanding her matronly attempt to keep the country locked down in a post-Dean state of emergency, which made it seem as if she were vying to become a Chavizta dictator rather than prime minister.
After all, disaffection and disillusionment with the PNP and her leadership emanate far more from her failure to stem the tides of chronic unemployment, abject poverty and violent crime, than from her dithering in the wake of Hurricane Dean. Indeed, nothing damned Simpson Miller’s prospects of winning a national mandate in her own right more than the 17 murders that occurred just last weekend. (Not to mention the stench of corruption that trailed her campaign.)But, frankly, I suspect that the vast majority of Jamaicans who voted for the JPL were just sick and tired of almost 20 years of PNP rule – notwithstanding the historic appeal of Simpson Miller’s candidacy, or disappointments with her short-lived premiership.
Unfortunately, as has become de rigueur in close national elections all around the world, Simpson Miller refuses to concede defeat gracefully:
The election is too close to call….We are conceding no victory to the Jamaica Labour Party.
Therefore, expect more election-related murders as Jamaican electoral authorities perform a perfunctory recount of the votes. I have no doubt, however, that Simpson Miller will be thrown kicking and screaming out of office in due course.
And, since she seems determined to go down in history not only as the only Jamaican prime minister who didn’t even serve a full term, but also as a sore loser, I say good riddance to her!
NOTE: A recent UN / CIA report ranked my country of origin, The Bahamas, as the richest in the Caribbean (with a per capita income of $21,300). Jamaica was eighth (with $4,600). Na nana na na….
UPDATE
September 5: In a startling, though commendable, about face, Simpson Miller conceded defeat today. Never mind that this might have more to do with revised results that show Golding and the JPL defeating her and PNP 32 to 28, than with her showing good statesmanship.
At any rate, here’s a little of what she said in her belated concession statement:
The People’s National Party accepts the announced preliminary results, while reserving all legal rights under the Jamaican constitution and our electoral laws….[The Party] respects and will always respect the voice of the Jamaican people and their will, as expressed in the vote.
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Cracking the glass ceiling [in national politics]
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