EDITORIAL - PNP must not misread mandate

This newspaper was heartened by the tone of Prime Minister-elect Portia Simpson Miller's victory speech last Thursday night after her party's election blowout.

She was understandably, and appropriately, celebratory without being triumphant. But more particularly, we appreciated Mrs Simpson Miller's pledge to lead an administration that is consultative and inclusive.

She vowed to treat the Opposition with respect and create partnerships with the private sector, trade unions and civil-society organisations.

There are many practical reasons for Mrs Simpson Miller and her People's National Party (PNP) to hold that position, not least of which is the need for broad consensus if the new administration is to implement the many difficult, and often unpopular, policies that will be required if Jamaica is to be dragged out of economic and social crisis. Moreover, to do otherwise would suggest a misreading by the PNP of the substance of the mandate it received by winning 41, or 65 per cent, of the seats in the 63-member House of Representatives.

Based on the preliminary data, 462,616 ballots were cast last Thursday in favour of the now-governing party, representing nearly 53 per cent of the popular vote, compared to 49.9 per cent of the popular vote in 2007. This translated to 57,323, or 14 per cent, more votes than four years ago.

But these nominal figures mask other important and relevant facts.

For instance, the 867,381 Jamaicans who voted last Thursday represented 46,000, or 5.6 per cent, on the number for the 2007 election. But the voter turnout of 52.65 per cent, on a register of 1.64 million, was nine percentage points lower than 2007 and represented the second lowest since universal adult suffrage nearly seven decades ago.

Youth, middle class disenchanted

Looked at another way, only 28 per cent of the registered voters cast ballots in favour of the PNP. A substantial portion of those who stayed away from the polls are the youth and the middle class, who have become disenchanted with politics.

We will, of course, be reminded that such voter apathy is not unique to Jamaica and is an increasingly common feature of liberal democracies. But it is also a fact that while elections can be won without them, it is difficult to govern effectively without the thinking middle class, a group from which Mrs Simpson Miller's party has, in recent years, become largely estranged.

That, therefore, is part of the context in which we noted Mrs Simpson Miller's promise of consultation and for the creation of alliances. For while large swathes of voting-age Jamaicans may have opted out of politics, they are not blasé or laissez-faire about matters of governance. They may find voice in, or look for, leadership from civil society and other representative organisations.

That Mrs Simpson Miller seems to appreciate these shifts in the body politic is important, given the matters that her administration has to address urgently, including reining in the country's J$1.6-trillion debt that fuels a yawning fiscal deficit.

These include public-sector reforms, which will mean some job cuts and an overhaul of the government's pension scheme. The tax system has to be revised to draw more people and sectors into the net. Many of these policies will be painful, but easier to do if there is consensus.