IPS-English BARBADOS: Another Caribbean Incumbent Bites the Dust Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:43:03 -0800 Peter Ischyrion BRIDGETOWN, Jan 16 (IPS) - The winds that swept out the incumbent governments in St. Lucia, Bahamas, Jamaica and the British Virgin Islands in the past 13 months returned with a vengeance on Tuesday and upended the administration of Prime Minister Owen Arthur in this small Eastern Caribbean island. Arthur had sought to follow in the footsteps of Patrick Manning, his counterpart in Trinidad and Tobago, who last November appeared to be the exception to the rule by leading his ruling People's National Movement back into the corridors of power. Most importantly, Arthur, a 58-year-old economist, had sought to secure a spot in Barbados's political history as the first prime minister to win a fourth consecutive term in office. He failed, and perhaps now more than ever, he will understand the phrase ”those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it”. In the end, the electorate not only condemned his Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to the opposition benches, but also possibly signaled the end of his political career in the island. Insisting that he was not about to engage in an ”instant judgment” regarding his future, Arthur, who led the government since 1994 for ”13 exhilarating years”, said he would seek to ensure that the 69-year-old BLP ”remains one of the premier political institutions in the region”. ”I have not left a party that is politically bankrupt. 'The party can cope beyond me' is the assurance that I give the party. It has people in it who can qualify to be leaders in any institution in the world,” he added. Arthur had entered the general election on Tuesday hoping to achieve a feat that had proved beyond many prominent politicians here, including Errol Barrow, who led the island to political independence from Britain in 1966 and is considered the founding father of the nation. But Arthur's Democratic Labour Party (DLP) was trounced by the BLP, led by J.M.G. ”Tom” Adams, the only son of Sir Grantley Adams, who headed the government in the failed West Indian Federation. Arthur said that his BLP had conducted a ”good campaign” for control of the 30-seat Parliament, but acknowledged that the electorate's desire for change proved insurmountable, resulting in the DLP reversing a 24-6 BLP majority in the last parliament to 20-10 in its favour. ”Change is a natural human instinct and I fully respect it. I want to merely say that I thank the people of Barbados for the opportunity to be prime minister. I tried my very best for the country and I leave office with no rancour,” Arthur said in his concession speech. The 2007 Human Development Report issued by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) supports Arthur's contention that his tenure had brought relative prosperity to the island. The UNDP ranked Barbados, which is mainly dependent on tourism and international business services for its revenue, at 31 out of 177 countries with respect to its human development index, ”which looks beyond GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to a broader definition of well-being”. In fact, the U.N. body ranked Barbados at the very top among 108 developing countries regarding its human poverty index, which measures the proportion of people below an income threshold but which also includes ”living a long and healthy life, having access to education and a decent standard of living”. The opposition DLP, however, found traction with its platform to transform ”the nation to meet the real needs of the people”. ”My vision of Barbados is centered around the idea of our people enjoying a significant improvement in living standards,” said David Thompson, the 49-year-old prime minister-elect, who was successful on his third attempt at winning the government. ”I have a vision of Barbados in which our arts, architecture, industrial policy, economic policy and social policy promote the concept of island living that is socially empowering, highly productive and allows us to meet both our internal and external obligations,” said Thompson, an attorney. The change of government is not expected to result in a drastic change in the island's foreign policy, although one of the main controversies of the campaign was Arthur's allegation that Taiwan had contributed to the DLP's campaign in return for a switch in allegiance away from China. Bridgetown and Beijing established diplomatic relations 30 years ago, and while Thompson and Taipei publicly rebuked Arthur's claims, the outgoing prime minister contended that an allegedly similar strategy had been followed in the case of St. Lucia, where the ruling United Workers Party had severed ties with Beijing in favour of Taiwan after a 10-year period. In its manifesto for the election, the DLP said that Barbados would ”continue its longstanding policy to be friends of all and satellites of none”. ”It will continue to defend the interests of its citizens at home and abroad. We will respect those treaties entered into by predecessor governments and seek new alliances conducive to the achievement of our goals,” it said. As lead prime minister within the Caribbean Community (Caricom), Arthur had played a high-profile role in the quest by regional states to create a single market and economy (CSME) by 2015 that includes the free movement of goods, skills, workers and services. But while saying he would ”work towards the realisation” of the CSME, Thompson has already signalled that a new DLP administration would also embark on a major public education programme to sensitise Barbadians to the ”challenges and opportunities that free movement of labour, goods and services will bring”. ”It will then prepare Barbadians for taking a leading role in the development of the wider Caribbean Community,” the DLP said. Another concern for the new administration will be the recently negotiated Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) that Caribbean countries reached with Europe at the end of last year. The full details of the accord have not been published in the region despite numerous calls from civil society groups, even as regional leaders are preparing to sign the trade deal on Mar. 15. DLP general secretary Chris Sinckler, the executive director of the Caribbean Policy Development Centre, had been critical of the accord and now, as a front-line member of the new government, could be in a position to agitate much more successfully for a review of the agreement. ***** + POLITICS: Taiwan Casts Shadow on Caribbean Polls (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40729) + EU-CARIBBEAN: New EPA Sets Timeline For Trade Liberalisation (http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40576) + POLITICS-ST. LUCIA: Is it China or Taiwan? (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37161 ) (END/IPS/CA/IP/DV/EP/PI/KS/08) = 01162224 ORP009 NNNN