Will the palm tree be restored to the ballot?

Oct 06, 2011 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The elections date is due to be announced this week. There is going to be an uproar if the President chooses to announce the date of elections at his party’s second major political rally scheduled for Kitty this weekend.
The detractors of the government are going to be critical of the President if he decides to announce the date of the elections at a party rally. They will argue that this is inappropriate and shows scant disregard for the division between party and State functions.
For years, leaders of the PNC when they were in power, announced the date for the elections at their party political rallies. And very few voices of criticisms were heard, if any at all. But if the incumbent Champion of the Earth decides to follow the precedent of the PNC and announces the date of the elections at a party rally, there is going be condemnation.
It is not likely that the President will make the announcement at Kitty. In all likeliness this announcement will be formally made via the mass media and thus unlike what was done during the time of the PNC, there would be no need to argue that the President exercised his prerogative to help his party.
The possible dates of the elections would have already been calculated by the opposition parties. They know that Guyana is going to have an election either in the third or fourth week of November. Those are the likely dates and are no secrets because the Guyana Elections Commission would have a timetable to work with and the date of the elections would be based on the readiness of GECOM.
All the political parties therefore already have a general idea as to the date of the elections and all of them had sufficient time to begin preparation for the polls.
Time cannot be an excuse. The PNCR named its presidential candidate a long time ago and even though it is contesting this year’s elections as part of a partnership with other small parties, it did not have problems in having its presidential candidate named as the candidate for the partnership.
Unlike in the run-up to the 1992 elections when Dr. Cheddi Jagan’s candidacy was viewed by certain forces within the PCD as divisive, the PNCR’s presidential candidate is not seen as divisive despite the early broadsides that the PPP launched against his candidacy.
The PPP is no doubt comfortable with APNU’s presidential candidate. The party must feel that it has his measure and can win against him. But elections are won by getting the vote out and despite the PPP’s unquestionable success at doing this, the PPP still has a great deal of work to do before this year’s elections can be said to be in the bag.
The PPP has always had good timing. It knows just when to kick in the campaign. It has done this successfully for years and has a well-oiled machinery which though creaking especially in Berbice where the PPP’s lacks effective leadership, is still formidable enough to deliver the overall result that the party desires.
The other opposition parties cannot be faulted for going out too early. But whether they can lift their campaign in the remaining month available is left to be seen.
It is always important that political parties be able to sustain and build on their initial momentum. APNU went out very early and may have lost some steam. That is never good. Once you start you have to keep building but in the case of APNU it is understandable that the party grouping was dealing with a concept that was new to the Guyanese public and needed the time to make the public familiar with it.
The best form of making it familiar would have been to bring on board new forces and candidates into the coalition. It does not seem as if APNU is going to create any tremors as it enters the homestretch in its campaign.
Perhaps the Guyanese people are not ready for an open partnership. If this is the assessment also within APNU, it may not be too late for the Palm Tree to be restored to the ballot.
With the date of the election soon to be announced, if the PNCR decides to scrap the partnership, it will have to do so quickly.

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