The PPP was always a strong multi-racial party

Jul 29, 2016 Letters

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Dear Editor,

The release of the findings of the population census has been the subject of much analysis particularly as it relates to voting behavior and the implications it can have on the political fortunes of the two major political parties, namely the PPP and the APNU.
There appears to be an entrenched body of opinion which is suggestive of an ethnically deterministic approach to political outcomes in the country. The tendency has been among some analysts to overemphasize race as a major determinant in the electoral successes of the PPP ever since its entry into the political landscape some sixty years ago.
The facts however, will reveal that the PPP owes both its political longevity and its popular and electoral appeal more as a result of its working class credentials and its commitment to a free, democratic and prosperous Guyana. This explains why it swept the polls in the elections of 1953 and again in the1957 elections despite the split of the PPP in 1955 which saw the formation of the Burnhamite PPP which managed to obtain a mere three seats as compared to nine seats won by the original PPP led by Dr. Cheddi Jagan. The PPP won a resounding victory despite attempts by the colonial office to restrict the electoral boundaries from eighteen in the 1953 election to fourteen in 1957, all in an effort to marginalize the full extent of the PPP electoral strength.
It would be unscholarly of anyone to ignore the negative impact which the split of the PPP inflicted on the body politic of the country, the effects of which are being felt until this day.  But it would be equally wrong to ignore the working class appeal which the PPP enjoyed among ordinary working people and intellectuals from all across the ethnic spectrum. The PPP has consistently attracted, both at the leadership and at the rank and file levels, people from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities due mainly to its strong ideological appeal which transcended the narrow boundaries of race, religion and creed.
I submit that it is the transcendental and universalistic values that the PPP embraced that was mainly responsible for its electoral victories over the decades and not the result of unthinking and blind ethnic loyalty as some analysts may wish to project. A careful and objective analysis of voting behavior will reveal that since the 1950s the PPP never won fifty or more percent of the votes (barring of course the rigged elections from 1968-1985) until the elections of October 1992 when it obtained fifty three percent of the votes. Of interest to note is the fact that the percentage of Indo-Guyanese voters were significantly larger in the 1960’s when it approximated to nearly half of the total population.
The point in the foregoing paragraph is that the PPP has managed to broaden its popular and electoral appeal during the 1990’s and beyond despite a declining Indo-Guyanese segment of the population. This explains why it was able to win a majority in all elections since 1992 until it lost power in May 2015 due to a six- party alliance and under what the PPP believed to be highly questionable circumstances currently being challenged in the courts.
The PPP has always maintained that it is not an “Indian” party despite the fact that an overwhelming number of its supporters are of Indian origin and rural based. It is the largest multi-racial party in the country with significant Afro-Guyanese, Mixed and Amerindian support representing the more advanced contingent of working people, farmers and intellectuals. The late Dr. Jagan had always promulgated the view that race as a factor in our politics should not be overemphasized but at the same time should not be swept under the carpet since it could be manipulated by political elements as in fact happened during the1960’s when race and to a smaller extent religion, was manipulated by foreign vested interests in collaboration with local reactionary to destabilize the elected PPP government. This is why the PPP has no interest whatsoever in the politics of race and will continue the struggle for national and racial unity.
Hydar Ally

Editor’s note: we publish Mr. Ally’s letter because ours is a professional newspaper and Mr. Ally is entitled to have his views published short of libel and bad taste.
But there is much that is not factual and worrying in this letter. First, any researcher can inform Mr. Ally that election statistics from 1957 to 2015 will show that the PPP received its votes from Indian areas and fared badly in African areas. Surely this cannot be the performance of a historically multi-racial party that Mr. Ally makes out the PPP to be.
The recent local government poll confirms this pattern for national elections. Against the background of race-baiting by Mr. Jagdeo during the 2015 elections and his egregious racially inciting statements in New York last week, we find the last line of Mr. Ally’s letter not worthy of being dignified with a response.

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