ULP will not have the same impact in 2020 that the NDP had in 1989 – Jomo Thomas

The roll out of projects in an election year may have helped a party to win at the polls in the past but former ULP candidate, Jomo Thomas is not sure that this tactic will help significantly in an election in 2020.

Following the 2020 Budget Presentation, many have noted the significant number of projects to be implemented this year and are attributing the long list to it being an election year.

Thomas, a former candidate for the Unity Labour Party (ULP) weighed in on the party’s chances of returning yet another win in the upcoming General Elections during We FM’s ‘Manifesto 2020’ programme last Friday, February 21.

“That is not for me to say, that is for the electorate to say. They are the ones who are going to vote to decide who forms the next government,” he said in response to a question posed on whether the ruling party has done enough to remain in power.

The Speaker of the House of Assembly said that the ULP, like any government would point to the number of things it has done while in power.

And he referenced Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, who in his 2020 Budget address mentioned several things that the government did over the years.

“I remember saying when I was inside the party or to persons who will listen…that the airport would not make a fundamental difference in the outcome of the election because the airport may have more draw to persons, Vincentians who are outside in terms of direct connections coming back than for Vincentians inside and that position was not taken kindly,” Thomas said.

Thomas, who resigned from the party last November, said that he was criticised publicly by a ULP activist who said he was underestimating the airport.

But he shared his belief that the results of the 2015 elections proved his observations correct.

“…There’s the airport, there’s the geothermal project, there’s the issue of the port, the other hotels that are being built and so on. Whether those capture the imagination of the people sufficiently to result in a return of the ULP government is left to be seen,” the social commentator said.

He also referenced the current government’s Pedestrian Access for Village Enhancement (PAVE) project, which will see at least 40 miles of concrete footpaths being laid across this country.

And Thomas said the government was essentially doing what the New Democratic Party (NDP) did when it came into power in the 80s.

And while he agrees that the projects are important in terms of putting necessary infrastructure in place for the people, Thomas does not believe it will have the same impact in 2020 as it did in 1989.

Thomas also said that he was not sure whether the ULP’s ability to rejuvenate the party by introducing new candidates will make a difference as to whether they are successful at the polls.
The difference, he said, will be reflected in the margins that the candidate is able to create in the constituency.

“Overwhelmingly, whichever individual goes up, that individual would be relying fundamentally on the support of the party,” he said. “Unless there’s an individual who has an enormous amount of money and can splurge that around in the villages to the young people and probably will be able to get scores of them, hundreds of them to go out and vote; unless that is going to happen, if you’re relying on the party to carry it, it is not going to — whether you are new or old — its not going to go far.”

And the lawyer said that this is the case for both the party in power and the opposition.

Thomas said that he believes the ULP will be significantly focused on capturing the North Leeward and South Leeward constituencies, which have historically been very narrow marginal seats.

But he said party strategists should also be considering that the NDP could flip the North Windward and Central Leeward seats as well.

“It is true that the margins in both of the seats are different, I think its 320 in North Windward and 314 in Central Leeward in terms of raw numbers, but every election is a different election,” the lawyer said.

He added that unemployment was going to be a big issue, come next General Elections.

Thomas said that there are a whole host of issues that will come into play in the upcoming elections and “certainly, it is not going to be an easy election”.