AS it is, the second question has been answered. Fifty names and faces have been put to the 50 constituencies after tense campaigning and rivaling in the past few weeks.
The first question was about who were to compete in the National General Election.
The third and fourth questions are who will make up the new government and who will lead.
We are half-way through and the answer to the second question has given some clues and has forced many to make political assumptions and guess-work given the scenario now.
The Democratic Alliance Party (DAP) bagged the highest number of candidates from the election as a registered political party.
Although the eight (8) DAP candidates give the political party no number to form a government, the other political parties also has the disadvantage.
All the registered political parties can form a coalition, but still will not make up the required number to form a new government without signing up the independent MPs elect.
The independent MPs elect hold the balance of power at the moment with a total of 32 members although they are not allowed by law to form a government under their current status.
The United Democratic Party (UDP) has four members; People’s Alliance Party (PAP) has three, Kadere Party of Solomon Islands, Solomon Islands Party for Rural Advancement (SIPRA) and Solomon Islands People First Party all recorded one each.
What must happen
The sure thing that must happen now is for the registered political parties to win souls to make up the number to form a government. There’s no party with a majority therefore a coalition is on the cards.
There is not mere winning of souls. Intense lobbying according to sources is seriously taking place when the results initially emerged.
One source yesterday expressed the difficulty in winning souls because “they are not cheap”.
That could mean pricey price-tugs each independent MP and members of other political parties cost to join a political party and or merge in order to have the required number of more than 25.
The new Political Parties Act spells out clearly those independent members cannot form a government. They have to join the registered political parties.
This brings us down to the 12 registered political parties. Again only six parties bagged members from the recent race as shown above.
Meanwhile the battle has begun according to a source who said the independent members can move together as a group into one existing registered party if their demands to make up a government are agreed on by that particular registered party.
So far, there are reports of shadows in some political parties but that has not been confirmed.
Whatever activities are taking place now to form a new government, people have no direct role in this other than their elected members.
Current standing: DAP 8, UDP 4, PAP 3, KADERE 1, PEOPLE FIRST 1, SIPRA 1 and Independents 32.
By EDNAL PALMER
