Democracy was restored 19 years ago

Oct 05, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
October 5, 2011 marks 19 years since democracy was restored to Guyana after an absence of twenty-eight years. This effectively meant that an entirely new cohort of voters would be given an opportunity to exercise their franchise in the upcoming national and regional elections, persons who never experienced what life was like during that period of undemocratic rule.
It is important that voters in general, and young voters in particular, make full use of this right to vote which was taken away by the PNC during those twenty eight years. It was twenty-eight wasted years which saw Guyana retrogressed from one of the more developed economies in the hemisphere to the poorest country in the region.
The PPP can take justifiable pride in the fact that as a party it has fought and won the right of all eligible Guyanese to vote in national elections. Prior to 1953 not everyone was permitted to vote. Only those who had money or property could have voted which effectively disenfranchised a significant number of Guyanese.
In those days the age of voting was 21 years and not 18 as is the case today. Again, it was the PPP that vigorously fought for the voting age to be reduced to 18 years which was granted by the British government despite strong opposition from the PNC and the United Force.
That right to vote unfortunately was taken away by the PNC in the elections of 1968 and all subsequent elections until October 1992 when Guyanese once again regained that fundamental right to vote, thanks to robust representation made by the PPP to the international community.
This resulted in the intervention of the Carter Centre which played a key role in getting the Desmond Hoyte administration to agree to hold democratic elections. As expected, the PPP under the leadership of Dr. Cheddi Jagan won a comfortable majority of the seats and the new PPP government immediately began the task of reconstructing the country, a daunting task given the extent of social and infrastructural decay which resulted from the over two decades of authoritarian rule.
The PPP has a proud history of championing the cause of the Guyanese people for a free and democratic society.
Hydar Ally

Editior’s note: The vote at eighteen was introduced in 1968 during the tenure of the PNC

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