An oxymoronic election result

Mar 21, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Surely, it will take several columns to analyze Friday’s LGE results. My readers know how I voted. I stated how my constituency ballot would go. I live at Turkeyen. I knew Team Benschop’s candidate, Brian Mackintosh’s record on civic duty. My X went for him. I chose Youth for Local Government for my Proportional Representation vote. I have immense trepidation over the concentration of power, and there is no way I could consciously encourage central government players to be the key players at the local level. Decentralization of power is a bulwark against dictatorship
The result of the LGE was bitter sweet. First, it was a sweet rejection of the PPP. In ways that are too horrible to contemplate, the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabals wanted to destroy when it was in power, even the little beauty of the capital city that was still there to be seen. Secondly, it underscored the bitterness of race that won’t go away. The PPP lost every constituency battle in Georgetown but check those results; they paint a gloomy picture. In all the streets in the fifteen constituencies where East Indians live, the Coalition and every Independent group were rejected. It is unnerving when you look at the polling booth declarations. For example, the Coalition won in Kitty but in places like, Station Street populated mostly by Indians, the PPP won a landslide. In Turkeyen/Pattensen/Cummings Lodge/Liliendaal, the situation was the same.
Countrywide, race showed its carcinogenic claws. In traditional PPP areas in Regions 3, 4, 5 and 6, the NDCs were captured by the PPP. The PPP stronghold-townships of Anna Regina, Rose Hall and Corriverton were retained. Indians were not prepared to give their support to the ruling coalition as part of an exchange where the central government in turn would be generous. It was natural for a PPP supporter to reason that since the Coalition possess the country’s purse, then he/she will vote for the Coalition so as to entice the government to spend in his/her district. That didn’t happen.
In Georgetown, it will not be a hopeful sign. The Coalition has picked up 25 of the 30 seats, giving it total power. This landslide removed any weak points that could have engendered bargaining with other groups in the City Council. It is doubtful that the two PPP Councillors and three independent ones will have any clout to confront a huge Coalition majority. This was a big set back for democracy. Democracy thrives on fields that are fertilized with competing poles of power.
The low turn out has featured conspicuously in all the analyses of the results. I disagree. In a small population like Guyana’s where central government has herculean power that reaches into the bedroom of all citizens, people do not view these elections with crucial eyes. I could offer myself as an example. As a citizen, I have absolutely nothing to do with City Council. I pay my rates and taxes on time, have no structure that violates the by-laws, the parapet outside my home has no encumbrances. If City Council chases away the market vendors (which I suspect they soon will rampage against now that they have Leviathan power), I will buy my vegetables elsewhere. For this reason, I think in Guyana, there will be continuous low turn outs way into the future. People are more concerned with the policies of central government.
On the question of the devastation of the individual contestants and independent groups, time and money were not on their side. There are early times yet and one should not be surprised at the thrashing they got from the bigger parties. The bigger parties have bigger monies and bigger time. The leaders of the Coalition sat in their ministerial offices and directed the show on the road. On the other hand, the Independents had to be on the road themselves. They simply didn’t have that kind of money to spend. Also, one needs to note that some of the Independents, except Mark Benschop, were a bit impertinent. You cannot drop from the skies and ask people to vote for you. They will naturally ask: “Who is he, where he’s been all this time.”
There is hope in the future for the Independents. Even though they were newcomers, they got seats. Team Legacy whose leadership people hardly knew, including this columnist, got two seats. They will do better in another three years if they bite the bullet and endure. Of course by the mention of the name Benschop, it brings into question why so popular yet so snubbed. It has to do with Benschop’s ego. More on the LGE 2016 in forthcoming columns.

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