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The opposition’s failure to prepare is not the PPP’s fault

Oct 11, 2011 Letters

 

 

DEAR EDITOR,
One of the hallmarks of a democratic polity is the extent to which political parties are able to contest elections that are free and fair and free from fear. No one can deny that since the introduction of democratic elections on October 5, 1992 all political parties were afforded the opportunity to participate in elections on a level playing field, that is to say that there was no way in which the ruling party was given a political advantage by virtue of incumbency.
The fact that the PPP/C managed to win the elections of October 1992 after twenty-eight years in the political wilderness is one indication that incumbency is not necessarily a political advantage as is sometimes being argued. Had this been the case, the PNC would not have lost the elections of 1992 after having enjoyed power for so long, albeit through rigged elections.
The PPP/C has won all elections since 1992, which obviously put the opposition parties in a difficult position, since the PPPC has been largely successful in turning incumbency into political capital by delivering on its Manifesto promises, something which the PNC was unable to do, due mainly to the fact that it never depended on the Guyanese electorate to return it to power.
In other words, playing politics and contesting elections on a level playing field was not what the PNC was accustomed to during those twenty-eight years when it was in power. Now that it is forced to play by the rules, the Party as a political organism is forced to mutate and join forces with other opposition elements in order to clean up its image and presumably its credibility among the Guyanese electorate.
In the final analysis, it is the will of the electorate in certified free and fair elections that determines which of the contesting political parties will form the government.
So far, the PPP/C is the only political party that has been doing political work on the ground on a sustained and consistent manner, as reflected in the hundreds of community and public meetings – all of which, by and large, have been well attended.
It is the only party that has pulled off two successful rallies in Berbice (Albion) and Georgetown (Kitty) within the space of one week, both of which attracted large numbers of supporters and friends, despite attempts by some sections of the media to suggest otherwise.
Now that the date of elections has been officially announced by President Bharrat Jagdeo, opposition parties have more than enough time to do their campaigning.
There can be no excuse that they were taken by surprise as happened in other jurisdictions where snap elections are often held to catch the opposition off-guard.
In fact, political parties have in theory five years to prepare themselves for elections and to convince the electorate why they should be given an opportunity to form the government.  The fact that they have failed to do so over the decades is not the fault of the incumbent PPPC.
Hydar Ally

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