Above: Dickson Igwe. Photo: provided

A viable third party in the Virgin Islands remains a hypothesis. That is, until one appears and becomes a permanent feature of Virgin Islands politics. In other words: a long term affair. Third parties in the Virgin Islands frequently appear, and then fizzle out soon after elections are over. Not a single candidate has been elected on a third party ticket in recent years.

The nearest thing to a third party candidate in these islands is a prominent politician with a very powerful district committee and base. He has been able to run with both parties successfully over the years. Whether he would succeed as a fully independent politician today is another matter.

This story assesses one crucial facet of party politics. It is a factor affecting the chances for success of any third political force in a two party election typecast. That factor is the POWER OF POLITICAL BRANDS.

In the past 4 plus elections in the Virgin Islands, independent candidates and third parties have not fared well. That is not surprising. It is very difficult for a third party to break into a two party cast.

In other words, a third party must try to play within a mould or typeset already made for two parties. The reasons for this difficult challenge of becoming a viable third option for Joe Voter are complex. However, one reason appears to be the issue of political brands.

Ok, a story alluding to the US political party model partly explains this phenomenon of party brand. In Scholastic.com, a site for educators, a story accessed on December 15, 2013, was titled, ‘’ the origins and functions of political parties.’’

In the article, Writer Stephen Flanders stated that although the USA had a two party system, there was nothing in the constitution that required two parties only. The entrenchment of the Republican and Democratic parties on the US political topography and imagination is a powerful fact of American politics.

Flanders described how since before the Civil war of the 1860s, both parties had alternated power. Flanders further wrote that third parties played a role in politics. The role of the third party in US politics was to focus attention on issues and ideas.

Flanders pointed out that sometimes a third party was able to affect the outcome of elections. This was by gaining enough support to deny one major party, or the other, power at an election. Alternatively, that support meant one of the big boys having to listen to the little third party guy. However, a third party never gained full political control and power in the USA.

Now, there is one clear reason for the US paradigm of a two party system that has stood the test of time. That reason is the overwhelming power of the Republican and Democratic brands. Brand is a very powerful factor in politics.

In the UK, the two main political brands, Conservative and Labour, have kept the political power dynamic, a two party show from before the Second World War. Albeit the third party, the Liberal democrats, made a historic breakthrough at the last General Election and got an opportunity to share power through an alliance with the Conservatives for the first time in that party’s recent history .

An analogy for the power of political brands is this one that speaks of consumer choice. One frequently shops at a supermarket for various items. For example breakfast cereal. In fact, breakfast cereal is a great example of the power of brand.

The Kellogg name brand is usually the first thing the buyer sets sights on before pulling that box of cornflakes from off the shelf. Cadbury is another powerful name brand. The dark blue to purple wrapping of a Cadbury chocolate bar with the Cadbury name brand spelled dominantly on the packaging is a massive advantage over a competing brand sitting nearby, notwithstanding taste. Even that tin of Carnation will do better than the competing brand sitting next to it, unrecognized by Jane Consumer.

A global brand alone is probably worth billions of dollars, even before the product reaches Joe Customer. The same is true for politics. A political brand is a very precious commodity in politics. It will even carry a losing party through the dark times of opposition. Brand will frequently resurrect a defeated party beast, carrying it to subsequent victory.
Brand preferences lie deep in the consumer’s sub conscience, in the psyche: a Freudian epiphany indeed.

In Virgin Islands party politics, brand will play a deciding factor at the next election without a doubt, unless a new third party brand gets typeset on the public imagination. That will not be an easy thing to do.

The Opposition party brand remains a powerful one, notwithstanding the anger expressed by Joe Voter against the party in 2011. It will be very difficult for another party brand to gain a foothold with the two competing brands.

Brand is a significant factor in political success. Arguably, at the last election, a number of politicians got elected not primarily through their own efforts. They got elected owing to the political brand they represented. Creating a new party brand is a very difficult undertaking indeed.

The two political brands in effect are two power polarities: powerful magnets attracting all of the oxygen in the game of power. And like a game of musical chairs, the country’s politicians must dance around these two brands and see who can occupy a seat within that twin formation, to have any hope of power. That is the two party system in play.

And the incumbents too possess a powerful political brand. And despite the clear frustration and dissatisfaction presently, with a significant cross section of the voting population, that brand will most probably stand the test of time, and take them strongly into 2015.

For a third party to be viable, it will have to be capable of establishing three differentiating factors. These will be factors that are distinct from what the two parties offer Joe Public presently.

First, it will have to comprise 13 personalities that stand out as different from the current crop of politicians; second, it will have to possess distinctive and attractive policies that appeal to the Virgin Islands voter, third, and above all, it will have to establish its own distinct brand.

That is the toughest part. The third party brand will further have to be capable of breaking into the mould both the party brands currently occupy. In essence, a third party will have to create its own space within the two party mould. The best a third party can do in this Observer’s opinion is to attempt to replace one of the BIG TWO within the two party paradigm.

It remains to be seen whether a third part can create its own powerful brand: a brand that will effectively compete with the two dominant political brands already in existence, even replacing one of those brands.

To be continued

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