By Matthew Falloon, Staff ReporterTHE REDUCED margin of victory gained by the People's National Party (PNP) in last week's General Election is expected to herald a new era for representational politics in Jamaica, with pundits and senior politicians predicting a better balanced Parliament and potential changes in the structure of the two main parties.
"The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) gained some support not enough to overturn the result but enough to put a Parliament in place that can be very productive for the Jamaican people," University and Allied Workers Union (UAWU) vice-president, Lambert Brown, told The Gleaner on election night.
"I think currently every MP is in a position to lobby now and to find a better fulfilment in the solution of problems in their constituencies."
Professor of International Law at the University of the West Indies, Stephen Vasciannie, thinks: "The closeness of the result should prompt the PNP to reconsider some of its more controversial positions and, in particular, it should encourage the party to be less tribal in its perspective."
"As to the JLP," he said, "the results, though encouraging in some respects, amount ultimately to a defeat. It follows that the JLP will need to reconsider its leadership structure and, in particular, it must consider whether there is a future for Edward Seaga as the Leader of the Opposition."
With the current 35-25 split of seats, the Parliament is already the most balanced in recent history. Not since the 1962 General Election, when the JLP won with 26 out of 45 seats to the PNP's 19, has there been a comparable balance.
At the post-election press conference last Thursday at the Jamaica Pegasus, Kingston, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson was guarded in his response when questioned about the reasons for the closeness of the election but implied that changes would be made to his party as a result.
"The results in a sense are too recently available to have been properly analysed," he told reporters. "There have been slippages in some areas of the island, more significantly than in other areas."
Audley Shaw, Deputy Leader for the JLP, sees a much more vibrant Parliament emerging in which, he said, "there will be a greater balance of contending views."
He reasoned that the new composition will mean that there is no "automatic two-thirds majority" which was previously available for the Government to make changes to the Constitution.
With official counts still ongoing, Mr. Shaw was optimistic of a 33-27 split, predicting that the initial PNP victories in North Western St. Ann and South Eastern St. Elizabeth will be overturned.
"The Opposition strength in Parliament, when the dust settles, will probably be close 33 to 27," he said. "With that kind of strength in the Opposition, the Government is going to be forced to be more accountable and more transparent."
Wednesday's polls was the JLP's fourth consecutive defeat. Mr. Shaw said the election result will require an assessment of the JLP in its present form but did not predict any sweeping reform.
"Certainly our loss will cause us to take a forensic look at where we went wrong and how we can improve it," he said.
