Core of our political instability!

J. Roughan

30 September 2009

Honiara     

The recent saga about our political instability reminds me of the story of the Irishman who lost his watch at one end of a football pitch but was looking for it at the other end of the field. When asked why he was looking for his watch at one end of the football pitch when he knew that he had lost it at the other end of the field, his answer was simple enough:"There's more light down this end of the field!"

 

So too with our own political instability debate. It's been decided that the lack of strong political parties is the major reason for our current instability. But exactly where does all our instability take place? Once we are sure we know where the greatest instability takes place, then we can do something constructive about it.

 

Take a studied look at the Solomons' last six electoral contests, almost a quarter of a century long--1984-2006--, and what do you read? The startling fact, it practically jumps off the paper, is that 8 out of every 10 Parliamentarians never attracted even half of their constituency vote. In raw numbers it means that over the last quarter of a century, the nation has been ruled by 62 members who actually won a majority of people's vote but, the rest, a further 249 members, four times the number that actually achieved a majority vote, never reached the 50% mark. In reality,  then, the nation, for almost a quarter of a century now, has been governed by a group of men who never achieved 50% or more votes in their own constituency.  This is the core of our political instability!

 

Even worse still, some parliamentarians, 11 members in the present house in fact, only managed to attract three votes out of 10 in their own constituency.  In other words, more than 7 out of every 10 votes cast were AGAINST the present sitting member. He, however, still managed to win by coming in first past the post to win the seat. To make things crystal clear, for every 10 votes cast, 7 of these votes went against the eleven honorables but still they managed to gain a parliamentary seat and claim in the process they had been elected democratically. Really!

 

Electoral Results  1984-2006

 

The following table details the Solomon Islands electoral history since 1984.

 

                                National Election Results   1984   -   2006

 

%………..	1984…..	1989……	1993……	1997…..	2001……	2006….     AVE
	MPs /%	MPs / %	MPs / %	MPs /%	MPs/ %	MPs/   %
50% or above	9    (24)	6      (16)	14    (30)	12   (24)	10     (20)	3  (.06) = 20%
Below 50%	29   (76)	31    (84)	33    (70)	38   (76)	40     (80)	46  (94) = 80%
Below 30%	9    (24)	12    (32)	10    (21)	14   (28)	19     (38)	27  (54) = 33%
Below 25%	5    (13)	9    (25)	9    (20)	10   (21)	13     (26)	11  (22) = 21%
% MPs failing to return	45%	42%	19%	51%	64%	43%
Members in Parl.	38	38	47	50	50	50

Source: Solomon Star Election Results  1984-2006. LINK Magazine

  

The above electoral results table clearly shows where the heart of our political instability lies and what has to be done about it before any other mechanism is legislated. Over a quarter of a century and through 6 separate elections, the nation has allowed a minority of people to govern this nation without the proper mandate of a majority of citizens actually voting them into office.

 

And this unfair process is not slowing down but strengthening. For instance, 27 members of the present House were elected with less than 30% of the vote compared to 19 members in the 2001 election and 14 members in the 1997 election. Here, then, is the source of instability! More and more members are attracting less and less votes which means that too often a member can concentrate his efforts on pleasing those few who actually voted him into office rather than for the whole constituency that he is supposed to represent.

 

No wonder, then, jumping from one side of the house to the other has become their favorite in-door sport. Their loyalty is less to the nation but more to the minority who actually voted for them. Insure that any member who wins a seat in Parliament must attract at least one half of the votes cast by having a runoff contest between the top two vote winners of any constituency. If the nation can get this part right, then it can move to legislation on political parties to bring about proper political stability.