It's enough to make a politics junkie cry...

No sooner had I come down from my high off of the dramatic Jamaican elections, did Patrick Manning finally stop de playing around and pocket-pulling and call the date of the Trinidad and Tobago elections- November 5.

Oh it is a glorious time for politics and news junkies in the Caribbean. Elections all in a row and some big ones- St. Lucia, Jamaica and now Trinidad, with BVI and Bahamas thrown in for good measure and Barbados expected to follow soon.

And they have not been staid, run-of-the-mill affairs either. It has been non-stop action from the time Kenny started things off in December 06.

Massive surprise defeat for ruling party! Analysts and pollsters baffled! Geriatric Father of Independence comes back to lead fractious 'flambeaus' to victory! Then his party members turn on him! He dies! (This part was not surprising...what was surprising was that St. Lucians would vote for an 82 year old man) MP, sacked minister and Taiwan-lover found to be convicted felon in US! Under an assumed name!

And that was just St. Lucia...jeez. Jamaica was no less exciting, with a tight, ding-dong battle, occasionally plagued by political violence, going right down to the wire- 31-29 became 32-38 and then 33-27...but then it went back to 32-28 after much back and forthing in a country constituency and a razor-thin margin of victory. And don't forget the Mysterious Disappearing and then Reappearing Ballot Boxes in St. Mary.

And now Trinidad. Elections called and all parties still seem to be in turmoil. The ruling party has not even named their full election slate yet and are still battling to evict some supposedly unpopular MPs like Ken Valley via the All-Powerful Screening Committee. Why the heck would a Prime Minister in a cushy position, with fractious opposition parties stir foment in his own party? Your guess is as good as mine. Not even Trinidadians seem to get it.

But oh how entertaining it all is. I can't WAIT for Barbados' election next year. Between The Hospital, The Great Floor-Crossing and The Double-Triple Highway, it should be great fun. Not to mention it will be the first election in which I will get to vote! I was out of the island (at summer school in JA) for the last one in 2003 and just a bit too young in 1999 ( I was 17). So I'm really looking forward to getting to exercise my adult suffrage.