Labour's lead vanishes as voters choose abstention over the ballot box
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The governing Labour Party has seen its lead in the polls disappear, with a survey now showing it in a dead heat with the Nationalist Party at 48 percent each. The shift is not a surge for the opposition, but a retreat by the government's own base into abstention; the Prime Minister retains a personal lead in trust, even as his party loses its grip on the electorate.
Credit agency DBRS has kept the country’s rating at an A, though it paired the grade with the usual warnings about corruption and the speed of population growth. The government is attempting to address other social strains, announcing that workers in long-term mental health treatment will now be eligible for two years of social security credits.
The justice system is facing its own administrative crises. A magistrate has reprimanded the prison service for failing to deliver an inmate to his own hearing, while the prison director faces accusations of incompetence for the unlawful segregation of a 15-year-old boy.