The best thing to happen to the NDP since they lost the elections
happened last week when they announced that Jules Ferdinand would be their
party’s standard-bearer in West St. George for the next General Elections. In
the 2010 elections, the seat was contested by Vynette Fredrick, my favourite
source of unending political comedy. Vynette was replaced, briefly, by Anesia
Baptiste, the caretaker who dealt her party such a vicious body blow of dissent
and discord that it has yet to fully recover.
Upgrading from Vynette/Anesia to Jules is a quantum leap in quality. I’m
not a fan of his newspaper column, but he has a great resumé and a solid
reputation. He is better known, better qualified, has a better temperament, is
more mature, more people friendly and better respected than any other mainland
NDP candidate not named Arnhim Eustace.
That should scare two sets of people.
First, it should scare the shit out of the ULP and Cess McKie. Cess is a
people person, much beloved in his constituency. Of the new elected representatives in
Parliament, he may be doing the best job (you could persuade me that Saboto is
doing the best of the newbies). But while Cess is a great guy, he hasn’t yet
have to prove that he’s a great campaigner. The NDP gifted him the seat in 2010
by running an unelectable Vynette, and he coasted to victory. Facing the
potential of an equally unelectable Anesia, Cess was still coasting.
Jules is a different kettle of fish. While the St. Georges constituencies
still lean ULP, like the entire Windward side of St. Vincent, Jules is a
serious and credible challenger. Cess has to sit up and take notice. Expect a
reinvigorated Cess for the next three years in West St. George, or he is toast.
The ULP, too, has to worry. They have no margin for error, no seats to
lose if they want to remain in government next time around. As much as its
detractors branded it as Encyclopaedia Ralph and 14 copybooks, the ULP team was
fresher, better qualified, and more impressive than the NDP’s sad sack team of
election also-rans. Outside of Arnhim and Friday, the NDP ran some real dregs,
or candidates with astronomically high negatives in the public view. Jules changes
that dynamic somewhat. Jules is an old guy, but he’s a fresh face politically.
He’s a good catch for the NDP, which must give the ULP pause. They can’t afford for him to unseat Cess. But more than that, they can’t afford him to give the NDP ticket
any semblance of national credibility.
The second set of people that need to worry are the current NDP
pretenders to Arnhim’s tattered throne. For the last 5+ years, the debate has
been on the relative merits of Lewis, Leacock or Friday as the next leader of
the NDP. If Jules wins his seat, they can kiss their aspirations goodbye.
Whether or not NDP forms government in the next election, the next leader of
the NDP would be Jules – as long as he can snare his seat.
That realisation must keep Linton and Leacock up at night.
I visited the North and South Leeward constituencies recently. It was depressing. Seems like an exceedingly high amount of people are unemployed in North Leeward. People were just sitting or standing around at the roadside doing nothing. In South Leeward the infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired. The roads are the pits. If the ULP wants to win those seats in the next elections they will have to urgently address the employment and infrastructure situations in those constituencies.
ReplyDeleteI get the feeling though that the ULP has gotten tired. It happens when you're in power as long as they are. With Ferdinand now in the political arena and with the current situation in the leeward constituencies it may well be 9-6 for the NDP in the next elections.