Barrow will continue as U.D.P. Leader
After a decisive 22-7 defeat in Wednesday’s election, the Opposition United Democratic Party may be down…but it’s definitely not out. This afternoon I sat down with U.D.P. Leader Dean Barrow to find out where he and his supporters go from here.
Janelle Chanona
“Following, the United Democratic Party’s National Party Council meeting on Saturday, what have you decided to do about your leadership with the party.”
Dean Barrow, Leader, United Democratic Party
“First of all, I have to say that I was really overwhelmed by the entreaties, the petitions, the demands that I say on. Each and every candidate and each and every delegation from all twenty-nine of our constituencies insisted that I remain as the leader, and in fact there was a resolution to that effect unanimously passed. To make a long story short, there was no way I could resist that kind of critical mass and so I will continue.”
Janelle Chanona
“Now that you have had time to sit and down and analyse the results, what has the party decided to do in this new term?”
Dean Barrow
“The contrast between what happened on Saturday and what happened after we lost in 1998, the mood was entirely different. In 1998, we were totally shattered and I knew that the first order of business, and that it would have been long order of business, would have been to rebuild the party. There is no rebuilding as such that needs to be done now. The sense I have that is that in all constituencies, the party is intact.
We certainly have to re-strategize; we certainly have to rethink our approach, because intact though the party is, the party didn’t win. And the principal objective after all is to win. But I was so very pleased at the level of enthusiasm still at the number of candidates who wanted to stay on, who wanted to begin to fight again the very next day. So really, it is a matter of looking after housekeeping, we have to appoint Senators, I want to, for the first time, actually come up with a shadow Cabinet and that will take some doing. And thereafter, going back to the constituencies, determining where even though there might be a desire to stay on, some candidates, in the interest of the party, might be persuaded better to give way to somebody else to ensure that we begin to recruit in places where they will have to be replacement candidates, try to start early the search for the best possible candidates that we can find.”
Janelle Chanona
“Earlier you spoke about re-strategizing, looking back at the election and indeed the whole term before that. What has the U.D.P. learnt?”
Dean Barrow
“In very many cases, we lost constituencies in the last month, having to do, number one with registration. When the Prime Minister extended the period for registration, that ought to have said something to us, that there was a need to ensure that we would go mano a mano at the last minute drive to ensure that every single person who was a potential U.D.P. voter would get onto the list. When those last lists came out, we found out that in very many areas, registration had for the month of February, exceeded three hundred, four hundred in some of the rural constituencies. And let me just say, without trying to be unfair to anyone that we in the leadership, the people in the secretariat were not satisfied that the U.D.P. had garnered the bulk of that registration, and that’s putting it very, very mildly and very, very kindly. If I wanted to be blunt I would say that in very many areas we got creamed on those last lists. And there really is no excuse for that, there really is no excuse for that. So, we I think know now that the power of the P.U.P. machine can never be underestimated. I think too many of us kind of laid back a little and felt that the swing that we thought was there against the P.U.P. would take us into office without our having to do every last little bit of hard work…that was a huge mistake. The P.U.P. machinery is awesome and there is no way, if you are going to beat the P.U.P. you can afford to go to sleep for a moment.”
One part of Barrow’s efforts will involved the appointment of Senators. According to the Party Leader, we should expect some surprises.
Dean Barrow
“Really, Senators shouldn’t come from the ranks of defeated candidates. We know that all of them worked hard, and we’re grateful, but we have to confess that the perception that the U.D.P. was not particularly deep at the top, at the leadership levels, is something that may have hurt us. And you don’t broaden your leadership trust by appointing either defeated candidates or long serving stalwarts of your party who are perhaps only being rewarded for loyalty to the Senate. I think that the search has to be for individuals who will be articulate, talented, attractive spokespersons for the party. And even with respect to things like gender and geographic representation, those considerations ought to give way to the first priority, which I insist is outstanding ability.”
Under the constitution the Opposition appoints three Senators, while the ruling party appoints six, civil society one, the business community one, and the churches one. The government also appoints the president of the Senate, who only votes in case of a tie.
