DLP Party List Disagreement Just One Facet of Absenteeism Argument

The proposal of a party list for the Democratic Labour Party in the upcoming elections has it seems caused a small disagreement at Party HQ. Current Foreign Minister T.S. Ó Ceallaigh had proposed that the list have DLP party leader, Mark Prendergast, as position one and himself as position two. A response was awaited and thenreceivedd from President Grieve, who is not directly involved in elections this time around, who had this to say on the matter:

"Mr Garine and MrLoutradiss will both be standing, and both have given good service in the last term. Mr Prendergast, on the other hand, was absent for the entirety. I think we may have to face it, the days of DLP supremacy in the Dáil may be running out. Hanging onto the hope that Mr Prendergast will rediscover his interest in the job strikes me as a little shortsighted."

This came on the back of widespread criticism for the Prime Minister's absenteeism. This had in turn moved Christos Loutradis (LPT at-large) to start a discussion in the Dáil on what to do. At the height of the debate the idea of removal was raised, a power which is found in the constitutional article concerning the job of Premier. President Grieve was quick explain that this wasn't the best course of action considering that the elections were so near (after the passing of Sensible Elections Amendment).

With no action taken by the Ministers, and only minimal participation from the Prime Minister in this last week, the DLP is under serious threat of loosing not only the control of the Dáil, but also their most active politician from that institution. With a Dáil of only three looking likely for this term using the new elections amendment which works out the number of seats by taking the population, dividing it by three and rounding up to the nearest whole odd number, competition for places is going to be the tightest ever. Although the competition may be exciting to the man in the street, it will not be for the DLP if things continue as they are, especially with the President looking at the LPT as the possible winners.

Any comment on the proposed DLP Party List from Mark Prendergast is still awaited.