The dangers of grandstanding

Jun 11, 2015 Editorial

The People’s Progressive Party continues to refuse to accept the results of the 2015 elections, despite those elections were given a clean bill by every foreign observer mission that came to Guyana. Further, the major powers that have diplomatic missions in Guyana contended that the new government was duly elected.
It is not unusual for the losing political party to contend that it was cheated. In fact, as far back as 1964 the PPP, in the face of the coalition between the then People’s National Congress and the United Force, refused to accept that under the electoral system the coalition was mandated to form the government.
This is the second time that the PPP is being voted out of office in fifty years. Further, it has been in power for 23 years on a ticket that was heavily favoured on an ethnic vote. This vote actually caused the PPP to believe that it would never lose an election in Guyana. Therefore, to lose an election is a bitter pill to swallow.
Of interest is the fact, that the PPP claims that the actual voting was without flaw and this had to be the case, especially since it raised complains of perceived irregularities. But the observers checked these so-called irregularities and found them to be false.
The next thing, then, was to contend that the forgeries occurred outside public view, within the chambers of the Guyana Elections Commission. The Commission comprises three members selected by the government, and three by the political opposition. The Chairman is identified by the President.
The Commissioners would have surely spotted any irregularity. The votes were tallied in their presence. When false Statements of Poll were inserted into the system, these were immediately detected and put aside.
But the PPP says, not so, that it wants a recount. The limited recount it sought and was granted did not uncover any irregularity and produced the same result as the initial count. One can only claim that the PPP is refusing to accept the results because it finds that losing is hard. In fact, it had led itself into believing that it would never lose an election in Guyana. As much was said by former President Bharrat Jagdeo during his tenure.
The PPP is refusing to take up its 32 seats in the National Assembly. But even this is not finding favour among its members. Just this past week some of its members began to take issue with the refusal to enter the National Assembly. They say that the party has a duty to represent those who voted for it.
By its action, the PPP has stilled the voice of almost half the population of the country. These are people who want the government to do things for them and they could only be heard through their representatives.
From the inception, there were those Ministers who acknowledged the results and to their credit, have refused to join in any protest action. These are the voice of reason.
Guyana knows what it is like to have people reject the results of an election. In 1992, 1996 and 2001 there were street protests that set the country back. Businesses were burnt and the protesters were blamed. Today, the authorities know that arson on the part of people other than the protestors, was responsible for the large fire in the wake of the 2001 elections.
Whenever the party shows dissent, the supporters allow their emotions to get the better of them and they do untoward things. The PPP knows this and one can only assume that it is playing on the emotions of the supporters. It wants anything to happen so that the government is unable to rule. It wants to see a state of anarchy.
We still remember the late Desmond Hoyte’s chant of ‘Slow fyah, Mo’ fyah’. That might not have been the call to arson, but different people receive messages differently. The PPP must also realize this. When it mounts its protest it must realize that although it is grandstanding, some of the supporters could take its actions very seriously.

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The dangers of grandstanding

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