Getting the “other” to register and vote

May 22, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

This essay here is a commentary on Ravi Dev’s last Sunday piece captioned, “Wooing the ‘Other’.” There is a cynical thought of Mr. Dev in his article on an issue of vital importance to national elections that could assist in the transcending of our political dilemmas.
Dev wrote; “As a reason for the PPP’s success, Dr. Hinds advances the point that some groups register and vote in larger numbers than others. We are not sure of the register bit since registration is conducted house to house by GECOM.”
When you evaluate Dev’s dismissive statement of a valid sociological fact by David Hinds, you feel that Dev, rather than searching for solutions, wears a Freudian hat of ethnic comfort. Deep down inside, he seems to be saying; “Why blame the ‘other side’ for going to the polls in large numbers; it is GECOM that registers people not the PPP.” The point is taken. Yes, it is GECOM that does the registration. But one’s analysis of why the PPP wins elections will have structural faults if one does not come to grips with how the “Other” registers and votes.
Dev then should have assigned more importance to this subtle sociological motif than just a cynical observation about GECOM.
The PPP’s four victories (1992, 1997, 2001, 2006) were accompanied by a greater turnout by rural Indians than urban Africans. There can hardly be a dispute about that because the statistics are there to be examined. In the 1997 election, from a PNC perspective, a disturbing percentage of Georgetown Blacks were not registered. This is an unhealthy trend among urban voters. If from 1997, urban-based politicians, namely the PNC, had done a massive drive among southern Georgetowners to get them to register and vote, the election results would not have been shaped the way they were.
Understanding this dichotomy is easy. Rural sociology and the urban ethos are comprehensively dissimilar. In urban areas, there are more programmes, projects, sporting events, entertainment centres than in the countryside. You go to southern Georgetown on a Sunday afternoon, and the young people are out of their homes. Thousands (yes thousands) flock to the Sheriff Street seawall every Sunday night.
In a country village, the women are at home watching television, and the young men, even though they are not at home, can be located in the village. When a rural employee comes home after work, he/she stays in for the rest of the evening. In Georgetown, this is not the pattern.
Urban people are more migratory than their rustic counterparts. Young men in south Georgetown are all over Guyana either working in goldmines or on forestry concessions or exploring possibilities in the interior. My point is that, is it more difficult to get urban folks to register and vote than in the villages.
I lived in south Georgetown my whole life and I know many of my Wortmanville folks did not go out to vote in the last four elections. This is the greatest threat facing the PNC, AFC and other parties come 2011. Dev is absolutely right when he wrote that the PPP gets its machinery going on voting day. Again this is easy to understand
In rural Guyana, the mosques and temples are where most villagers meet every Sunday. These places of worship are small and are penetrated by the PPP activists. I suspect this is where Kean Gibson got the impression that Hindu leaders preach an anti-African sermon and in the process, demonize African Guyanese. Though she is way off track with her thesis, it is not hard to see how the Hindu and Muslim priests in the countryside help keep the faith in the PPP.
On the opposite spectrum, the urban churches have large congregations and the preachers are not political activists.
The election results could have been very different over the past decade if urban people had flocked to the polling stations.
Those parties that want to defeat the PPP in 2011 have got to use a gargantuan amount of time, energy and money to get the urban youths out to register and vote. It is a formidable task given the kind of geography of urban centres as opposed to the villages but it can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
One suspects that the PPP will be hard-pressed to win the 2011 poll. This is a very unpopular government and total mobilization by the combined opposition should see the defeat of the PPP. I suspect the PPP will use its incumbency to secure the Amerindian votes. But the difference could be the urban youths. The opposition has to act now.

Latest News

Getting the “other” to register and vote

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| March, 17th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

St. Lucia’s Elite Blazers takes aim at FIBA 3×3 World Tour in...

Petra/Milo U18 Football kicks off Round II action...

Track and Field clubs demand nullification of AAG...

Joint Statement from WIPA and CWI on Athlete...

RCNA launches Childhood Obesity Prevention...

FL Sport donates stumps to Meten-Meer-Zorg...

Features/Columnists

Following one’s conscience rather than the crowd

If Guyana’s President Ali is the “Zelensky of the Caribbean”, who is the Putin?

New beginning, or beginning of a nightmare?

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Getting the “other” to register and vote

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| March, 17th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]