Last Leg

The Franklin Times - (editorial)

The campaign now enters its last leg with less than two weeks before voters go to the polls. With so little time left, many questions remain unanswered. Will the FDRP continue to dominate the right? Will a single party emerge dominant on the left? Will Prime Minister Sexton and Deputy Prime Minister McDaniel choose to endorse a party? Will the remaining interest groups endorse or simply forgo this election? What issue will weigh heaviest in the minds of voters? The answers to these questions will surely guide the electoral results.
Yet, we at the nation's widest read newspaper can only sit back and shake our heads. The 2007 election was characterized by fierce competition and a true battle of ideas. There was a general sense that parties wanted to govern and move the nation forward. Unfortunately, this campaign has lacked such energy. Only a few parties have actively attempted to engage the voters. Only a few parties have actively pursued votes. Only a few parties have specifically spelled out their plan for this nation. Our nation is new to the democratic process, and perhaps this simply reflects a natural pattern in democracies. Yet, we worry that the less than stellar electoral effort will lead to depressed voter turnout. It is clear that many electoral analysts believe the race is already over for many parties. For some parties it simply is too late to build up effective electoral infrastructure for a national campaign. What have the parties wrought?