Imani Duncan-Price | Does system created for Britain in Middle Ages work for Jamaica?

What if Jamaica was one big constituency allowing for every vote to count instead of a voting system from the Middle Ages operating in 63 individual constituencies? What if we used the Constitutional Reform Process to reimagine Jamaica’s electoral system for better results? What if we put in place a new system that reduced the political tribalism that has held Jamaica back?

In 2020, across 63 constituencies, 38 per cent of the electorate decided who runs the country for 100 per cent of the people. That is a minority government running Jamaica. The idea of a minority ruling over the majority goes against the most basic ideas about democracy. The voting system that often gives that kind of ‘minority rule’ result today is called ‘First Past the Post ‘ (FPTP). We inherited this voting system from England, along with many other post-colonial practices that don’t work for Jamaica.

Unfortunately, much of the discourse about Constitutional Reform has been focused on simply changing the head of state. That is, does Jamaica get rid of the monarchy or not. I believe that’s a no-brainer and impatient of debate. More fundamental changes could energise our democracy and engage the hearts and minds of our people who have become apathetic with less and less participating in elections.

WHY KEEP A SYSTEM THAT LIMITS REPRESENTATION?

Jamaica uses majority voting per constituency or the ‘First Past the Post’ voting system which typically favours a “winner-takes-all” result. That is, the candidate in an individual constituency that gets the majority votes in that seat wins. With that situation, anybody who voted for a candidate that does not win, does not have their vote or voice matter.

The result then gets cemented in Parliament as the party with the highest number of seats forms the government. With this, hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans go without a say in crucial national decisions – excluded from representation. This isn’t just bad for democracy; it’s bad for the entire politics and society.

While FPTP is one of the simplest electoral systems, it also from the 1800s. It has been used to elect the House of Commons of England and extended to British colonies, like Jamaica and the USA. Throughout the 20th century many countries that previously used FPTP abandoned it in favour of other electoral systems, including the former British colonies of Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. It is time Jamaica chooses a voting system that enables fuller representation.

CURRENT VOTING SYSTEM FOSTERS POLITICAL TRIBALISM

Time and time again, across countries that use this FPTP system, only the largest parties are favoured. This usually ends up being two parties, like in Jamaica with the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the People’s National Party (PNP). This creates a base for deep tribalism.

Political tribalism is where loyalty to the political tribe is more important than loyalty to anything else. It means that tribe members will go to any lengths to defend their tribe’s leader – be it Holness or Golding in Jamaica, or Trump or Obama in the USA – from any criticisms or wrongdoings, regardless of facts. Tribalism breeds an “us versus them” mentality which also then taints other parts of the society, including the business sector, NGO sector, churches and more.

As we must cut the political umbilical cord of the prime minister to the majority MPs in Parliament, we must also excise political tribalism from Jamaica’s society. It will be a process over time but definitive changes can initiate the needed transformation.

MAKE EVERYBODY’S VOTE COUNT

Proportional Representation (PR) is the answer. It is an electoral system that allows a Parliament to reflect the overall distribution of actual public support for each political party – whether they are big or small parties. If a party gets 20 per cent of the total vote in an overall election, it wins 20 per cent of the seats. This allows every vote to be taken into account and Parliament would accurately represent the people’s range of perspectives and preferences.

Given how ‘First Past the Post’ elections are structured, they often suffer from low turnout. Many feel it doesn’t make sense to vote in some constituencies, like garrisons, as it’s a waste supporting the likely ‘losing’ candidate. On the other hand, because every vote is counted with PR, globally the turnout for such elections is on average five to eight per cent higher than for FPTP elections.

Further, PR means majority rule, not minority rule. With PR, any government must have a majority of votes behind it. In order to govern, a party needs to either work collaboratively with other parties, or persuade most Jamaicans to vote for it. Wouldn’t Jamaica’s democracy benefit from a higher turnout and wider representation?

HOW DO WE MAKE THIS CHANGE?

Over the last few weeks, many persons have asked what would Proportional Representation look like in Jamaica? Isn’t it too complicated for Jamaica? Everyone that approached me wanted to break the political tribalism and move from the apathy and cynicism but didn’t know what this option really meant.

The difference is best explained using a real-life example where Jamaica had a third party making a strong national effort in a general election. The last time we had any kind of credible showing of such a ‘third’ political party was with the National Democratic Movement (NDM) in 1997. The tables illustrate the difference in results using the two different voting systems. Note, at the time Jamaica had 60 constituencies – that is 60 seats in Parliament.

With the FPTP system, the NDM ended up with zero seats in 1997. With this, over 36,000 Jamaicans had no voice in Parliament. Note that minimum size for a constituency in Jamaica, based on the Electoral Office of Jamaica’s rules, is just over 21,000 voters. With FPTP the NDM votes went to “waste”. With PR, those voters would have had some voice in Parliament.

Additionally, with FPTP, the overweighting to PNP over JLP would not have been so lopsided in terms of seats. If PR was applied to the recent 2020 election results as well, the JLP would not have their overwhelming majority over the PNP either and Jamaica’s democracy and people would be better served.

If Jamaica was one big constituency (instead of 63) and we used the Proportional Representation system everybody’s vote would count. Registered voters would still vote for political parties, just not individual Members of Parliament (MPs). The political parties would have lists of candidates in an order of ranking. That would determine who the MPs would be based on the overall total percentage votes the Party received in a national election.

In the case of the 1997 election, the PNP, the JLP and the NDM would have put forward lists of candidates in rank order one to 60. Then based on the election results the first 34 candidates on the PNP list would be MPs for the PNP in Parliament. The first 24 candidates on the JLP list would be MPs and the first two candidates on the NDM list would be MPs in Parliament.

With the PR system, third parties have the chance to grow and help build accountability in Parliament and citizens can see their vote would not be wasted.

Let’s demand this type of real change in the Constitutional Reform process and honour every voice and vote. Make it a real People’s Constitution, a real People’s Parliament. Ultimately, the power rests with the people of Jamaica. Use it!

Imani Duncan-Price is a women’s rights activist, World Economic Forum young global leader, affordable housing developer and former senator. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and imaniduncan@gmail.com.