[EDITORIALS]Please, govern the country

No sooner has the local election ended than the presidential election moves center stage.

The Millennium Democratic Party seems carried away with anxiety after its landslide defeat in the local elections. Every word they utter is about the presidential election, including thoughts of how to reshape the political landscape by regrouping its members. We understand their desperation, since they have to be concerned with the party's collapse. But we cannot understand why they show no sign of paying attention to the national governance, as is required of a political party with the second most seats in the National Assembly.

Although repeatedly pledging a politics of putting the people first, the Grand National Party seems concerned only with trying not to look too complacent after its one-sided victory. That is less than we expect from the majority party in the National Assembly, which the people wholeheartedly supported in the elections. There is nothing wrong with taking precautions against winner's arrogance and preparing a strategy to keep their popularity growing.

We have to worry about a power vacuum and disorder in the national governance. The Blue House and the government have not been effective since the president's son was detained and political parties started jockeying in earnest for the presidential election. Everyone behaves as if the presidential election is all they have to care about. Can we afford to give up national governance for the next six months? Did they forget the economic crisis of five years ago? We cannot help but deplore that the National Assembly has yet to start its session.

We are not asking them to stop thinking about the presidential election. That should be a political party's legitimate concern. But that is not all all there is to being a political party. They also should care about governing the nation, monitoring public sentiment, preparing legislation to address the people's concerns, etc.

The GNP and the MDP should reflect on why they lost and won the elections. The political scandals and negligence in the national governance produced the election result. The parties should stop fighting over the speaker's seat. They should start the National Assembly session as soon as possible and deal with the many bills in the hopper. That is the short cut to firmly secure or regain the people's support.