The 2018 LGE provided a litmus test

Nov 21, 2018 Letters

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Dear Editor,
With Local Government Elections (LGE) behind us, one battle in the people’s struggle to regain power at the central government level has been fought and won.
The euphoria that erupted at ground zero appeared as though the victories scored at the local government and municipal levels was just as big as a victory fought and won at regional and general elections
To many, the elections were not only a referendum on the APNU+AFC Coalition administration, it was also viewed as a dress rehearsal for what is to come in 2020.
The impact of the LGE results was much bigger than it was within the ambit of the PPP/C’s support base. As a matter of fact, its reverberation was felt throughout the wider society like 6.8 on the Richter scale.
The sweet taste of victory by Opposition foot soldiers was a microcosm of what was tasted by thousands who, as if with dry throats, waited anxiously to quench their thirst since May 2015.
Small wonder the preliminary results were welcomed with such exuberance by a populace who knew the result could not be otherwise.
With impressive brownie points under their belts, Opposition foot soldiers know that they must gird their loins for fresh battles that lie ahead on the road to the mother of all elections in 2020.
On the evening of November 12, prior to the announcement of the LGE preliminary results, certain APNU big wigs were already crowing on TV about ‘making inroads in Opposition strongholds.’
They claimed that they were ‘satisfied’ with what they had seen in their respective constituencies during the course of the day.
But they all seemed to be sucking cane and whistling at the same time since, while voicing optimism about results favoring them, they were bemoaning the low voter turnout in their strong holds. Ironically, one leader boasted that ‘a low voter turnout is positive for their party.’
It is to be recalled that for the first LGE held under the PPP/C in 1994, there were 348,195 voters on the list. The voter turnout was 47.91%.
In 2016, for the first LGE held under the APNU+AFC there were 507,584 voters on the list. The voter turnout was 47.10 %.
And in 2018 for the just concluded LGE, with 573, 923 voters on the list, the voter turnout was 36%, the lowest ever.
Incidentally, it is apposite to note that over a period of 23 years, the number of voters in Guyana jumped from 348,195 to 573,923, an increase of 225,728 or just over 60.6% .
Earlier, this astronomical increase had raised eyebrows but the concern somehow fell off the radar.
As regards the pattern of voter turnout at LGE versus voter turnout at General and Regional Elections, there has always been a yawning chasm.
In the General and Regional Elections held in 1992, the voter turnout was 88.7%. In 1997, it was 88.4% . For 2001, it was 91.7%, while in 2006 it was 68.8%. In 2011, it was 72.91%.And in 2015 the turn out stood at 71.2 %.
What is remarkable however is that while it took 23 years for the PPP/C to lose a mere sliver of votes, with just over three years in government, the APNU+AFC lost to the PPP/C a huge chunk of the votes they won in 2015.
The APNU/AFC’s rap sheet was so horrendous that long before the November LGE, dissatisfaction and disillusionment had become so widespread that all that was needed was an election to illustrate the extent of complacency and voter apathy that had penetrated their camp.
The promise of a good life, which never gained traction anyway, had gone up in smoke leaving ‘Les Miserables’ at their wits end to scrounge around for bread and butter.
In contrast, so voracious was the appetite of the APNU+AFC eager beavers who had assumed office, that the billions safely stored by the PPP/C just in case of an unexpected ‘hard guava season,’ were quickly gobbled up in a manner totally oblivious to the basic needs of the populace.
In effect, were we to take the results of the just concluded LGE as a means of measuring the shelf life of the APNU+ AFC it would not be unreasonable to conclude that the coalition’s expiry date would be mid-2020.
The weeping and gnashing of teeth, not to mention the shedding of crocodile tears and outpourings of confessions expressed at the November 17 rally at Sophia, was an attempt to come to grips with the brutal reality of losing votes big time and the untidy complexity of political experience which political parties must face from time to time.
The PPP/C had to face the complexities of similar political challenges before and after the 2011 and 2015 elections. At that time, the APNU+ AFC formed the political opposition.
Now, with the PPP/C in opposition and the APNU+AFC in government, those who strut the corridors of power must now, following the LGE, face what could be described as ‘the weapon of dialectic destruction.’
The APNU+AFC should by now recognize the political parody that in politics, the truth is rented for five years then it is thrown out and replaced by another set of truths in the course of political struggle and more so, when governments change.
All the APNU’s chatter about ‘losing contact with our supporters,’ that ‘we didn’t lose, it was racism that won’ and that ‘there was a low voter turnout of our supporters because LGE was not held for such a long time’ are but lame excuses in lieu of their fecklessness and cynical neglect of those to whom the ‘good life’ was promised.
In this respect, the APNU+ AFC found themselves caught in the existential governmental trap characterized by neglect and complacency.
It is a trap in which most ruling parties find themselves having taken too much for granted. The palliative offered by an APNU minister of government to construct a new hospital and to provide lessons in English, Maths and Science free of cost was done to appear benevolent and charitable and to improve the electoral fortunes of coalition.
David Hinds, a consummate critic of the APNU+AFC, writing in his ‘Hind’ Sight’ of November 11,2018 was at pains to point out that holding LGE should ‘not be viewed as a major accomplishment of the coalition administration’.
Hinds prophesied that ‘the PNC would have a hard time getting its base to the polls and that the PPP would win the popular vote.’ So said, so done!
Following the APNU’s humiliating defeat, and the holding of its ‘Thank You’ rally at ‘C’ Field Sophia, many bore witness to the knee jerk, foul ‘mouthery’ and vitriol emanating from the podium at the rally where one of the prominent leaders of the APNU said, ‘No more nice time business’ and that ‘We’ve got to fix these things’ meaning, flushing out ‘PPP supporters and NDC’s that sabotage the government.’
The originator of this objectionable narrative must know that language in which a political debate is conducted, very often determines its outcome. Small wonder why the offensive vitriol set off an inferno of political criticism from opposition circles.
On his return, it behoves the political leader of the APNU to reign in the prima donnaish antics of his coalition partners as well as the bad content in the political language espoused by his followers before it bubbles over at the top.
These developments, notwithstanding, what must not be overlooked is the fact that the just concluded LGE was held in a peaceful and calm atmosphere throughout the country.
The voters list was scrutinized thoroughly by PPP activists and there were no allegations of evidential value with respect to ballot box or vote tampering.
With the holding of LGE, two factors standout, democracy at the grassroots level, though still weak, has been further strengthened and concomitantly, the prospects for free and fair elections at the national level beckons.
Care must be taken however not to be carried away by the successes scored in the general conduct of the just concluded LGE.
Local power must not be confused with state power, while the two are mutually reinforcing and therefore critical for nation building, the latter is precisely where real power resides.
In the struggle to achieve state power come elections 2020, the major political parties or blocks will pull out all the stops to ensure that one or the other either stays in office or win back office. Sometime in mid-2020, the bell will toll for one or the other.
However, if the results of the local government elections are to be used as a barometer for measuring the prospects for a change of government, it is reasonable to presume that with free and fair elections, as it was with the LGE, the populace knows it cannot be otherwise.
As elections go, the way to bring about a people’s victory is to situate Napoleon’s military maxim in a political context and to replace the word ‘army’ with ‘political party.’
‘An army should be ready every day and at all hours to fight…an army ought always to be ready by day, by night, at all hours, to make all the resistance it is capable of making.”

Yours faithfully,
Clement J. Rohee

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