APNU ran an effective ground campaign

Dec 17, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
Any serious analyst of Guyana’s politics would be impressed with the campaign that produced the shocking results for APNU and the AFC and the fall in support for the PPP. When it was in office, the PNC placed less emphasis on house- to-house campaigning in favour of election rigging and media-based mass politicking. That cost the PNC dearly at the polls ever since free and fair elections were restored in 1992.
The party returned to house-to-house campaign last month, and did quite well, managing to recapture support it lost over the years. Supporters of the PNC in the Diaspora returned home and campaigned smartly and intelligently, convincing the party’s supporters to vote APNU. Former and retired soldiers and police officers as well retired bureaucrats (and civil servants) carried out an effective campaign rallying supporters for their party.
APNU targeted communities that traditionally voted for PNC, and it paid off as they turned out en masse to support their party. The PPP was not able to match APNU in ground combat and whoever devised APNU’s campaign and get out the votes strategy ought to be applauded, for they worked to get back the party’s normal support.
The AFC also utilized a house-to-house combat similar to APNU with reasonable success. Party supporters, some from abroad, also went house-to-house and convinced PPP supporters to cast their ballots for AFC. The AFC focused in traditional PPP strongholds, recognizing votes were scarce in PNC strongholds. And that strategy paid off as the party pulled over 20,000 votes from PPP, depriving the PPP of its majority.
When the PPP was in the opposition, the party relied on a ground house-to-house campaign that cemented support for the party. Its cadres went around the communities convincing them to vote PPP in a whispering campaign. Over the last several years, the PPP has been criticized in the villages for placing less emphasis on house-to-house campaigning. During the campaign for last month’s election, the party apparently focused more on mass media campaigning rather than utilizing the successfully tested method of house-to-house political combat. The party apparently did not bring overseas supporters, respected former cadres, to help it in the campaign, as the PNC (APNU) and the AFC did. The result was the PNC (APNU) was able to beat the PPP in terms of holding on to their base of support. The PNC (APNU) recaptured its base while the PPP yielded some of its base to the AFC. The ground campaign made the difference in the election.
The parties should engage in self-examination to determine where and how they failed and succeeded so next time they can take measures to improve support.
Vishnu Bisram

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APNU ran an effective ground campaign

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