The mating season
- By The Rambler
- Published 16th May, 2008
The war of the crowds seems to have died down at long last, and it is hoped that Wednesday's heavy downpour may have cooled down the ardour that lasted much too long. The political landscape was usually crowded prior to May Day, with the parties deploying their efforts to canvass attendance to their respective meetings on the 1st. It comforted them a great deal to see the hordes of partisans assembled to listen to them as they harangued the gathering. And that was all there was to it.
But not so this year.
May Day 2008 has gone beyond the 1st of May with each major party trying to prove that it had drawn the largest crowd. One party even decorated all the available walls in the towns with photographs of its mob at the meeting.
Why this insistence on demonstrating their strengths? Is it an indication that the campaign for the 2010 elections has already started? That could very well be.
But then, everyone knows that the country is in a perpetual state of electoral campaign, a state of siege, from one election to another. Or maybe each party is
trying to show its strength and worth in view of eventual alliances.
Just a week after May Day, talks of alliances have resurfaced on the agenda of press conferences. The MMM which had been persistently writing off the possibility of an alliance with either the Labour Party or the MSM, has suddenly announced that it is still envisaging an alliance with the MSM. “The desire still exists that we fight the next elections on a common platform,” the leader of the MMM was heard telling the press on Saturday.
But the MSM leader is not showing the least interest in such a proposal. “I have absolutely no confidence in the leader of the MMM,” he has declared at another press meeting, “and I can't work with somebody I don't trust.”
That's probably the MSM leader's way of showing that, alliance for alliance, he prefers to play a winning game rather than a virtual win-win game, knowing full well that an alliance with the MMM will lead him direct to the opposition seat in the eventuality that he is elected.
As for the leader of the Labour Party, he must be chuckling and enjoying the show with great delight.
But not so this year.
May Day 2008 has gone beyond the 1st of May with each major party trying to prove that it had drawn the largest crowd. One party even decorated all the available walls in the towns with photographs of its mob at the meeting.
Why this insistence on demonstrating their strengths? Is it an indication that the campaign for the 2010 elections has already started? That could very well be.
But then, everyone knows that the country is in a perpetual state of electoral campaign, a state of siege, from one election to another. Or maybe each party is
Just a week after May Day, talks of alliances have resurfaced on the agenda of press conferences. The MMM which had been persistently writing off the possibility of an alliance with either the Labour Party or the MSM, has suddenly announced that it is still envisaging an alliance with the MSM. “The desire still exists that we fight the next elections on a common platform,” the leader of the MMM was heard telling the press on Saturday.
But the MSM leader is not showing the least interest in such a proposal. “I have absolutely no confidence in the leader of the MMM,” he has declared at another press meeting, “and I can't work with somebody I don't trust.”
That's probably the MSM leader's way of showing that, alliance for alliance, he prefers to play a winning game rather than a virtual win-win game, knowing full well that an alliance with the MMM will lead him direct to the opposition seat in the eventuality that he is elected.
As for the leader of the Labour Party, he must be chuckling and enjoying the show with great delight.
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