New coalition must prove itself or face the consequences
COALITIONS are notoriously fractious. Understandably enough, when the inconvenient results of democracy and the practicalities of government demand compromise to accommodate two or more differing political viewpoints.
How much more fractious, then, could a four-way ruling alliance that spans a good portion of the political spectrum turn out to be?
And how much more critical could that fractiousness prove, when the alliance in question enjoys a wafer-thin majority of just two seats in Parliament — and excludes the biggest single party to emerge from last month’s general election?
Some have cried “foul”, claiming the new coalition makes a mockery of democracy in consigning the party that won more than 35 per cent of the vote to opposition. Others would point to it as a fairer reflection of the public’s electoral choices, putting into power parties which between them polled more than 54 per cent of the January 7 vote.
But will competing interests and ideologies make the alliance too fragile to survive?
The TRNC has “form” in this respect, with this now the third government in less than five years. An unlikely left-right coalition after the last general election, in July 2013, broke up acrimoniously after less than three years, while the ensuing right-wing alliance lasted just 21 months before voters went back to the polls six months early.
With two new parties voted into Parliament last month, and both of the biggest established parties left smarting in one way or another, arguably the biggest message from the voting public is that they are fed up with “politics as usual”.
Having formed a government described as a “historic first” for the TRNC, it is now up to the coalition partners to prove that they have the political maturity to make a success of the very difficult job ahead.
If they don’t, they will be punished at the ballot box, making that “first”, a “last”. And that too would be democracy in action.