The SPPF have dramatically made an about turn, when their leader former President Rene, announced in an interview with the local media that they will not be participating in the forthcoming bye-election at Mont Fleuri. All indications had been that they will field a candidate for the election after hitting the campaign trail early well ahead of both SNP and DP. However, it has now transpired that the exercise was merely to gauge their ratings and the result has not been encouraging for them. The customary SPPF supporters in Mont Fleuri have made it known in no uncertain terms that they are not particularly happy with the recent policies of President Michel. It is to be remembered that President Michel and his government has unprecedentedly increased taxes on petrol, diesel, electricity and water tariffs, telephone usage, road tax making people’s lives more difficult. He has also broken his promises to the people by devaluing the rupee; something which he promised not to do on the pretext that it would affect the most vulnerable in society more.
The President’s personal ratings are at its lowest at the moment and admittedly it would be foolish of him to contest the bye-election at Mont Fleuri just yet. The SPPF’s decision has left the field wide open for the SNP and the DP candidates to slug it out in the next three weeks or so to garnish sufficient votes for their party. If, which is a possibility, the SPPF’s disregard the orders of their party and come down in droves to register protest votes against their party, in favour of the DP, it is very likely that Frank Elizabeth will win the seat outright by a landslide. Such an outcome would most probably spell the end of Ferari’s political career as it would mean that he had gambled and lost. Unless Ramkalawan is minded to take him back on proportional basis sacrificing Alcindor, Pierre, Lucas or Henri, it would literally mean a “bye-bye” election for Ferrari.
The possibility of another electoral pact between the two opposition parties is still open. Hypothetically, such an agreement can mean that both Elizabeth and Ferrari going to the National Assembly simultaneously and abandoning the election at Mont Fleuri altogether. Such an eventuality would still mean that the SNP will have to sacrifice one of its proportionally elected members of parliament in favour of Elizabeth. The DP’s tenacity in refusing to accept defeat and let go would thus have paid off as they have always insisted on getting back the seat that was unceremoniously taken away from them by Ramakalawan.
Albert Rene for his part has uncharacteristically called on all SPPF voters not to come down and vote but to go shopping elsewhere on the day of the election. In an interview given to SBC’s seasoned journalist, Marceline Evenor, Rene made some distasteful remarks more reminiscent of dictator Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Rene accused Ferrari of being an infant and as such he should take his baby bottle and go and sulk in a corner. He described the election as a farce and used the analogy of a man divorcing his wife one day and asking her to re-marry him the next. He promised that the SPPF will take back the Mont Fleuri constituency in the 2011 election.
His diatribe in shamelessly urging the SPPF inhabitants not to exercise their constitutional rights to cast their votes at the ballot but to go shopping instead clearly shows a man intent on derailing the electoral process in the country. The SPPF supporters have as much a right to vote as the supporters of DP and SNP and to allow Rene to dictate otherwise is sacrilegious and unacceptable. It is a mockery of our Constitution. As a result, the election cannot be said to be free and fair as all SPPF supporters are being coerced not to exercise their constitutional right to vote by Albert Rene. Paul Chow, the DP leader has lodged a complaint to the Electoral Commissioner against Rene’s antics in interfering with the electoral process in the manner that he has done. The Chamber of Commerce has also condemned Rene in the strongest terms for his anti-democratic and anti-constitutional stance. One wonders what President James Michel makes of Rene’s shenanigans especially coming at a time when Michel has declared 2008 as the year of the Constitution.
It is abundantly clear that from whichever angle one looks at the election it is definitely not one which is good for the opposition. It would necessarily mean the opposition tearing each other apart whilst the SPPF benefits. The Electoral Commissioner has already stated that the cost of this election will be R.830, 000, a sum the country can ill-afford to squander. The sooner the two opposition parties come to an agreeable settlement to resolve their dispute the better it would be for the whole country. Whatever the outcome of the election, the futility of the whole exercise is clear for everyone to see. It is hoped that the two opposition leaders will come to their senses and call a truce sooner rather than later. Who is going to blink first? Only time will tell!