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I voted today…


for all the good it did. For all the good it can ever do, putting your faith in this breed of beings called politicians. Sigh. Will there be change?

Well, I’ve done my part. My part in this first stage anyway. This should not be the sum total of “political” action by the electorate, but I’m involved. Let’s see where we all go from here.

(Photo by Lilandra - very hard for a right-hander to take a picture of your right index finger with a D80…) 

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This entry was written by Chennette and posted on November 5, 2007 at 11:36 pm and filed under Chennette, Trinidad and Tobago. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

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12 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

  1. Let’s see how long this opposition lasts.

    I want a new theme.

    1. Lilandra, Empress of Chocolate and Envious Sister on November 6th, 2007 at 12:57 am

  2. sorry for most of us …no change, at least you did your part.

    2. Dre on November 6th, 2007 at 1:41 am

  3. Lilandra a new theme in T&T politics? That may take a couple lifetimes.

    The decision is not completely unexpected, too many people in T&T never change the way they vote, no matter the issues or the consequences, but still, I had some hopes.

    Dre I just wanted at the very least a different presence in Parliament, to show that even Opposition CAN make a difference (unlike the “opposition” we have had) - will we get the Constitutional reform that we NEED and not the one that our “leader” wants?

    3. chennette on November 6th, 2007 at 7:29 am

  4. no for my blog
    i depressed with trinis

    4. Lilandra, Empress of Chocolate and Envious Sister on November 6th, 2007 at 9:40 am

  5. Apparently COP got more votes than UNC. It’s a repeat of the ONR in 1981. The problem is the electoral system. If a quarter of the population votes for a party that can’t even get one seat in 41, then the system doesn’t work. Democracy is about electing a government that does the will of the people. If the second largest bloc isn’t represented, then the electoral system fails us. The problem isn’t whether COP split UNC vote, or UNC split COP vote. People should be able to vote for anyone credible and not have to worry about strategic voting.

    6. Ian on November 6th, 2007 at 9:52 am

  6. I know - I just realised how many votes they DID get and it is so frustrating. Mostly because this was a problem that was recognised a long time ago, and even in the last election, and yet we didn’t change the system. And for that, I blame both the Government AND the Opposition. Because it would have taken them both to achieve the change, and any elected representative to initiate the process.

    7. chennette on November 6th, 2007 at 11:21 am

  7. Sadly, we can’t expect the politicians who benefit from the system to change it. The PNM got 63% of the seats with 43% of the vote. The UNC got 37% of the seats with 19% of the vote. That’s a 20-point benefit for the PNM, 18-point benefit for the UNC.

    I think the best we can hope for is a mixed system, like what the Wooding Commission proposed. If one house is elected first-past-the-post and the other is elected PR, we might have the grounds to build a better system. But even that we aren’t going to get unless the politicians want something from the “third force”. I think there are two ways forward - one is for COP to try to build a presence through local government (though even there, it’s going to have problems) while waiting for Panday to retire or die, and see what sort of arrangement they can make with his successor, and the other is to actually build grassroots support for the idea of constitutional change. Maybe if people marching round the Red House for constitutional change politicians might notice.

    8. Ian on November 6th, 2007 at 2:26 pm

  8. Chage the system of voting now!!!!!! Implement a PR system because in my view a party(COP) who get 140,000 plus votes deserves to get a chance to represent the people who voted for them. That is 9 seats in parliament. If we had a PR system then the PNM would have gotten 19 seats the UNC 13 seats. Then a coalition government would be formed bet the UNC and the COP since thier manifestoes seem to be the same and the PNM would be in opposition. Just my view

    10. Mustapha on November 8th, 2007 at 12:29 pm

  9. Doing your part is the first step to change…even if the change is slow to come.

    11. Cranky Putz on November 9th, 2007 at 12:21 pm

  10. Yay, Chennette! At least we did our part.

    Lilandra, doh give up on we yet nah gyul, lol.

    But I agree with Ian and Mustapha who says that 140,000 people in T&T are unrepresented. There has to be something wrong with the system when that happens.

    12. Mani on November 12th, 2007 at 6:53 pm

  11. …and by the way, enjoy your vacation.

    13. Mani on November 12th, 2007 at 8:12 pm

  12. chennette can’t access wordpress.com atm
    she can blog from flickr…

    14. Lilandra, Empress of Chocolate and Envious Sister on November 12th, 2007 at 9:51 pm

2 Trackbacks

  1. By Trini bloggers are voting « Further thoughts on November 6, 2007 at 9:41 am

    [...] Lifespan of a Chennette [...]

  2. By Global Voices Online » Trinidad and Tobago: Election results on November 6, 2007 at 9:58 pm

    [...] Haveworld captioned his photo. “I voted. Did you?” asked The Manicou Report. “I've done my part,” said Lifespan of a Chennette. “My part in this first stage anyway.” Georgia Popplewell [...]

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