Robert Buddan
PEOPLE'S NATIONAL Party (PNP) President P.J. Patterson, has added an innovation to the mode of party succession in the Westminster system. He will determine a period during which he will accompany the president-elect of the PNP on tours to introduce that person to the nation and to important international leaders. Presidential systems as different as those of the U.S. and Haiti have transition periods between outgoing and incoming presidents, but the Westminster system does not have one for Prime Ministers and party leaders. A transition is one in which the incumbent retains the powers of office while the elected successor prepares to assume those powers. The transfer of power goes through two stages, that of election followed by assumption of office.
Transition periods help to prepare parties, legislature, and the executive for the new tasks and the different balance of power that follow elections. Mr. Patterson has used the term 'president-elect' to suggest that after a new party president is elected, that person will not assume office immediately. Since this is a new innovation in Jamaica, it is not clear how the details will work. However, it seems as though Mr. Patterson intends to continue as President for two to four weeks after his successor is elected just as the incumbent president of the U.S. or Haiti remains president until the president-elect is sworn in.
SEPARATION OF POWERS
This kind of transition is not possible in Westminster government. The legislature and its executive are dissolved for new elections. The incumbent members retire their seats en bloc. In the U.S. and Haiti, separation of powers means that neither the executive nor the legislature can dissolve the other. Since only some members of the legislature are elected at any one time, those not facing re-election continue to sit.
This provides presidential systems with continuity whereas the Westminster system suffers abrupt breaks when one party succeeds another. However, in the PNP's succession, Mr. Patterson has devised a game plan to ensure a degree of structural continuity in party and government, accepting the idiosyncratic changes that will come with a different style of leadership and new policy emphases.
THE GAME PLAN FOR UNITY
Mr. Patterson clearly has his eyes on continuity rather than abrupt changes to the broad party leadership. He has chosen not to relinquish the party presidency at a regular conference where vice presidents and other officers might be challenged and a wider turn-over of leadership might occur. He prefers a special conference where only the new president will be elected. The new president will then inherit the full officer corps of general secretary and his deputies, chairman, legal advisor, and treasurer, along with the existing NEC and executive committee.
The new president will have to work with these principals, at least between April and the next annual conference in September, and those officers will have to work with that president in the interim. Furthermore, as incumbent party president in the immediate transition, Mr. Patterson will be able to mediate in disputes that might arise from the campaigns and the election itself, playing the role of power broker in the event of a crisis of succession to the position of prime minister.
In fact, should the party election fail to meet expected standards of integrity and produce a winner recognised as legitimate, Mr. Patterson as president will have the constitutional power to call another Special Conference and hold elections again. Mr. Patterson would hope that this power serves more as a preventative than a cure, in other words, that the contenders, their campaign teams and supporters, abide by the Party's Code of Conduct so that he is not forced to effectively void the election. Remember, Mr. Patterson has constantly warned against dirty money entering the campaign and money being used to buy the votes of delegates.
There is another potential problem. Should the delegates vote for one candidate to be Party President, say Portia Simpson Miller, and parliamentarians declare their support for another to be Prime Minister, say Peter Phillips, serious division could set in especially if questionable campaign and election practices cast doubt on the legitimacy of either. In such a situation, Mr. Patterson's role as power broker would be critical and his position as incumbent President would constitutionally legitimise that role.
Of course, however, the election turns out, the campaign will have winners and losers. Mr. Patterson wants to make sure that the Party does not lose and that the winning candidate gets the eventual backing of Party supporters across the country. He plans therefore, to take the president-elect on a national tour where they will deliver the message of party unity to the Party grassroots. No doubt both would use the opportunity to heal campaign wounds. I'm sure Mr. Patterson intends, among other things, to remain active in the Party to repair any lingering disunity the succession causes the Party to suffer.
If the mode of transition seems designed to ensure party unity, its timing is expected to ensure continuity in government, other things being equal. The transition between March and April means that the new Prime Minister will be in place to take charge of the new parliamentary and fiscal year. The new Prime Minister will inherit Mr. Patterson's Parliament and Cabinet. It is hardly likely that he or she will make any change to the Cabinet in the middle of the budget season of April and May or before the Annual Conference in September. That might also be Mr. Patterson's hope. For that period therefore, there should be continuity and since the team will have to work together, there should be unity in government as well.
Mr. Patterson also knows that, in the age of globalization, the new Prime Minister will step directly into positions of tremendous international responsibility. Jamaica's high profile role in international affairs means that a Jamaican prime minister, more than any other CARICOM prime minister, has deep international engagements to manage.
His plan to introduce the new party president to some of the important international company he will keep makes eminent sense. By that time, Mr. Patterson would have concluded his chairmanship of the G77 and China, but Jamaica has deep commitments to the agenda of the South. The new PetroCaribe Agreement has to be attended to. Planning for the World Cup of Cricket has to keep its momentum. The CARICOM Single Market and Economy would have just been launched. Elections in Haiti and a new government there might require Jamaica's serious attention.
There is much to commend in Mr. Patterson's transition game plan. Apart from the fact that it is the right protocol and a needed innovation to the Westminster party tradition, it makes a lot of sense for securing party and government unity. In the end, this is the necessary foundation for effective government.
Email the Department of Government at: Robert.Buddan@uwimona.edu.jm or in focus@gleanerjm.com
