Cedric Wilson

Before 1997, when the People's National Party (PNP) retained power, winning more than two consecutive terms in office in Jamaica was never allowed by the electorate. Regardless of the charisma of the leader, the power of his rhetoric, the appeal of his ideology, the soundness of his plan, the rule of the game was simple: two terms and no more. Therefore, when placed in this historical context, the very thought of a party winning a fifth consecutive term seems almost inconceivable. Yet, the official results have the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) securing the narrowest of victories: 33 seats to the PNP's 27.

For the defeated PNP leader, Portia Simpson Miller, the real agony certainly would not have come from the fact that her party lost, but that it almost won. On election night, flanked by dejected comrades, she declared: "We are conceding no victory to the Jamaica Labour Party until the final count." Frankly, that position was not unreasonable the preliminary results had given the JLP a couple more seats than its rival, the tally of votes in a few constituencies was so close that the situation could have been reversed after a second counting. But that was not all. She made reference to vote buying and the violation of election rules, then promised not to "stand by and allow people to use criminals to decide the future of the Jamaican people." Indeed, defeat was bitter, letting go was not easy and Mrs. Simpson Miller in that dark hour was defiant, intransigent and bellicose.

struggles

In March last year, after flogging her three male rivals in the contest for the presidency of her party, she took the reins of government from Prime Minister P.J. Patterson. Immediately, the Jamaican people suffering from the fatigue of 17 years of the PNPadministration warmed to her. The party ratings soared - the Jamaica Gleaner opinion polls indicated that 52 per cent of electorates would support the PNP, versus 26 per cent for the JLP. People identified with her primarily because she, more closely than any other Prime Minister before her, epitomised the struggles and hopes of the vast majority of Jamaicans at the base of the social pyramid.

Seers and political pundits predicted an early election, expecting her to capitalise on the massive support she had among the people. But this was not to be. There was smouldering discontent within the PNP about the result of the presidential election. Simpson Miller, the grass-roots champion, was not the favourite among PNP Members of Parliament. The immediate task at hand was to achieve some measure of internal cohesion with the party. In the meantime, her popularity had already started to wane.

In early October 2006, the JLP revealed that the PNP had accepted a gift of J$31 million from Trafigura, an international oil-trading company that did business with a state-owned corporation. The transaction was dubious, Jamaicans incensed, and the scent of a scandal could not be denied. The PNP standing in the poll sank further, to 32 per cent, putting them even with the JLP. Simpson Miller had yet another fire to put out.

confused teacher

Politics is a landscape full of surprises. Miraculously, in January 2007, the PNP rating began to climb, giving it a comfortable seven per cent-point lead by June. But there were more delays. Finally, after consulting the oracle to ensure that all the stars were in perfec Simpson Miller called the election for August 27. Of course, a hurricane which affected the island occasioned a one-week postponement. But it is all over now, Bruce Golding has been sworn in as the new Prime Minister and the rest is history.

So, how should the PNP supporters deal with the sting of defeat? The philosophers of antiquity would suggest Stoicism or Epicureanism.

Stoics contend that defeat shouldbe met with apathetic acceptance. They believe that human beings can only find happiness by freeing themselves from all passion and calmly embracing defeat as an expression of divine will.

Epicureanism, on the other hand, addresses the anguish of defeat in a completely different manner. Epicurus, the father of this philosophy, argued that God exists but there is no afterlife, no hell, no eternal punishment. Therefore, defeat is best forgotten in the uninhibited pursuit of pleasure - "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die".

However, there is a more modern option: Embracing the idea that we exist simultaneously in many different worlds.

The Japanese writer, Kenzaburo Oe, in his novel A Personal Matter, tells how his protagonist, Bird, came face to face with the philosophy. In one scene, Bird, a confused teacher facing personal calamity, visited an old girlfriend, Himinko, in search of consolation. Himinko's husband had some time in the past committed suicide. She had coped with the tragedy by believing in what she described as a "pluralistic universe".

In essence, Himinko believed that whenever a person reached a major juncture in life, the person's world split into two new worlds. Say she was faced with the decision of going right or left, then one Himinko would go right, and another would go left. And she might be living in the world where she went right, there is another world that exists where she, in fact, went left. From her perspective, the world we live in keeps multiplying and branching of like limbs from a tree with each major decision we face.

Himinko, therefore, rationalised that when her husband was confronted with the decision to take his life, he actually did it in one world - the one in which she was speaking to Bird. However, there was another world in which her husband decided not to take his life. Himinko, therefore, acknowledged that she lived in a world in which her husband was dead. However, she found supreme comfort in the idea that there was another world in which she was living happily with her husband.

Those who struggle with the pain of the PNP's loss may find comfort in the idea of a pluralistic universe. We will never know, but there might be another word where Portia is still Prime Minister.

Cedric Wilson is an economics consultant who specialises in market regulations. Send your comments to: conoswil@hotmail.com.

Cedric Wilson