Vernon Daley

Barbadians will go to the polls on January 15, to elect a new government in what is seen as high stakes elections for the governing Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and the main opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP).

Prime Minister Owen Arthur is seeking a fourth straight term for his BLP while the DLP, once again under the leadership of David Thompson, is hoping to break a rather lengthy political drought.

Most of the political polls seem to be suggesting a victory for the BLP at the polls. This has to do with the personal popularity of Arthur, who is still very much admired by the average Barbarian, notwithstanding his extended hold on power.

One recent survey conducted by the Cave Hill Associates Polling Organisation (Chap) in collaboration with Professor Ian Boxhill of the University of the West Indies showed Arthur is ahead of Thompson 2-1 when it comes to the issue of leadership. According to the poll, more than 70 per cent of the respondents considered leadership to be a key indicator as to how they would vote in the elections. This is clearly good news for the Prime Minister.

However, this doesn't mean the DLP is out of the race. The pollsters and pundits have been pointing to the "mood for change" factor which is sweeping over the country. Though voters are still sceptical about Thompson they are looking for change and the question is whether that yearning is powerful enough to take the opposition party to victory.

Disappointment

Thompson is seen as a disappointment to many because he grew up as the golden political child of Barbados. He was anointed by the late former Prime Minister Errol Barrow to be one of the great leaders of that Caribbean isle, but somewhere along the road his car ran out of gas. Who knows, maybe his glory days are ahead.

He lost two elections to Arthur in 1994 and 1999 and with questions surrounding his leadership stepped away from the job as Leader of the Opposition and leader of his party. Clyde Mascoll took up the mantle and, in fact, gave a decent performance against Arthur in the 2003 elections. In 2006 Thompson returned - imbued with a sense of entitlement and destiny - to take back the leadership of the DLP. Mascoll left the party to join Arthur's team and many have sympathised with him. He had, indeed, suffered an unkind cut.

Now, Thompson has one more shot at being elected Prime Minister and it's left to be seen whether he could survive politically if he misses the mark. Despite his presence on the political stage for a number of years, there is a sense that the Barbadian people still don't know Thompson and what he stands for. Arthur, with serpentine cleverness, has used this to his advantage by having a short election campaign of about four weeks.

There isn't much time now for Thompson to get out there and try to win the hearts and minds of the electorate. In that environment, the people might find it more convenient to stick with that evil they know.

Kiss and make up

Political Ombudsman Bishop Herro Blair last week called on Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller to settle their differences coming into this New Year. I hope the leaders will have the good sense to heed that call from the bishop.

Feelings have been hurt and egos bruised by unkind political comments but this is not about individual pride. It's about an enterprise called national development. With scarce resources and limited options available to us as a country to dig ourselves out of our many problems, we need all hands on deck.

My New Year's wish is that Mr. Golding and Mrs. Simpson Miller will just kiss and make up.