Minor parties should heed grand coalition suggestion

Dear Editor,

Reference is made to your editorial `New Parties’ (Dec 22) and GHK Lall’s `Small parties should form one grand coalition’ (Dec 23). I endorse the opinion of Mr Lall that the mini parties should come together and contest as a third front to improve their chances at gaining seats in parliament. On their own, they may not gain enough votes even for a seat. Together, they can win seats and hold the balance of power.

It is not even certain that the small parties can qualify to get on the ballot much less get votes. As the editorial pointed out, it is a herculean task meeting the requirements to get on the ballot. Very few of the fourteen new parties may have the resources to make the ballot.

As the editorial noted, requirements for ballot qualification are very tough and stringent and do not favour the smaller parties. The two larger parties will also be pleased if the smaller parties fail to make the ballot. The two behemoths hope to corral the floating or unaligned voters as they do the bulk (some 90%) of the electorate.

As Mr Lall noted, most of the minor parties will not get enough votes to gain representation in parliament. It will be better if some of them link up with others and hopefully transfer their support to such an alliance enhancing the prospect of parliamentary representation.

If the goal is to transform the politics of the land by influencing policies and or to deny the two larger parties a majority in parliament, then consolidation or alliance of parties is the way to go.

As it stands, as I traveled around the country in recent weeks, I see only a few of the mini parties winning seats. Thus, instead of expending scarce resources to qualify for the ballot and in the political campaign, only to come up empty in parliament, it is better if the minor parties heed Lall’s advice and come together enabling such alliance (s) to win seats.

Yours faithfully,

Dr Vishnu Bisram