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Po­lit­i­cal sci­en­tist Dr In­di­ra Ram­per­sad does not be­lieve the Gov­ern­ment’s de­ci­sion to can­cel this year’s In­de­pen­dence Day pa­rade will have any sig­nif­i­cant po­lit­i­cal fall­out.

Speak­ing in the wake of pub­lic re­ac­tions to the an­nounce­ment, Ram­per­sad said while the move has sparked dis­ap­point­ment in some quar­ters, it is un­like­ly to car­ry long-term con­se­quences for the ad­min­is­tra­tion.

“I am not dis­count­ing the sig­nif­i­cance of the pa­rade. I don’t think it is po­lit­i­cal­ly fa­tal. The Gov­ern­ment is just four months in and they have a lot of time to build po­lit­i­cal cap­i­tal, po­lit­i­cal clout and that mat­ters most in elec­tions. What is com­ing next is a lo­cal gov­ern­ment elec­tion. I re­al­ly don’t think the can­cel­la­tion of the mil­i­tary pa­rade is go­ing to sig­nif­i­cant­ly  af­fect the out­come of the lo­cal gov­ern­ment elec­tion.”