Statement on the DSP Abandonment of Coalition

[Alfonso Velez]

Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen,

I was shocked and surprised to hear this morning to see the Deputy Prime Minister announcing that he and the DSP were pulling out of their coalition agreement with the Government. I learned about DSP's intentions the same time as everyone else. I would have appreciated if the Deputy Prime Minister had given me the courtesy of alerting me to his intentions before publicly announcing them. I would have appreciated if he had brought his concerns to me directly and indicated a desire to work with me to address his concerns. 

Unfortunately, Mr. Zimmer and the DSP instead decided to put political interests over honouring their agreement and have taken this drastic action--presumably with the hopes of forcing an early election and a DSP Government. The DSP had every opportunity while being a member of Government to present legislation of its own to address the issues it stated it had concerns with--but failed to do so. The Deputy Prime Minister himself had ample ability and opportunity to present legislation to the Cabinet to consider to address his concerns about education and terrorism--but failed to do so. In fact, the L&D lead the way in the production of legislation. I know that this Government should be doing more--and I take personal responsibility for the lack of momentum that we are presently seeing. However, I take issue with the drastic action taken by Mr. Zimmer however that, in my view, puts political opportunism over the need for stability.

Our problems will not be solved by greater uncertainty. Over the coming days, I will be reaching out to other minority parties to see if a workable coalition can be formed. If this appears that it will not be possible, I will meet with the President and the Speaker of Parliament to discuss options, including an early election.

Let the people of Alduria remember how the DSP broke its word to not only the L&D but to the Republic by abandoning this agreement that they entered into not so long ago. If we must have new elections, the people Alduria should remember the DSP's track record of honouring its word and take any promises and agreements made by them accordingly.