And Still I Rise

The Elections have come and gone but in its aftermath the Opposition has cited numerous irregularities that they claim cost them victory in at least three of the marginal seats.So come today the Opposition takes to the street for their first protest march.

Frankly,I find all the grandstanding annoying and counter productive.What is it about politicians that make them so unwilling to accept results that are unfavorable to them? I recall in 1998,the ULP won 7 seats to the NDP's 8 and in the process gained the majority of the popular vote.Smarting from their defeat(they were sure they were going to win) they vowed to make the country ungovernable and what followed were a series of protests actions that eventually led to the ruling party's collapse in 2001.

Don't get me wrong as am not saying that the Opposition does not have the right to query inconsistencies.No system is fool proof and any glitches must be addressed if you want to attain a system that inspires confidence.But why not just take the matter to court and await a ruling if you feel so strongly about the matter?

From my vantage point it seems more than a little odd that the only places where irregularities took place were in the marginal seats.To me that sets up a scenario where the allegations can be viewed as a deliberate sabotage of candidates.Never mind that the observers gave the elections a passing grade.The funny thing is the constituency that the ULP wanted to win the most was one they lost.One would think that they would have ensured that a victory would have been recorded there.Looks like some fun times are ahead on the Vincentian political scene and it seems Christmas can barely get a chance to make its presence felt.