I prefer a consensus candidate – PPP General Secretary

Jan 19, 2019 News

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), Bharrat Jagdeo, has indicated that, though the party will vote for its presidential candidate by way of secret ballot, he prefers the party to decide by way of consensus.

PPP/C General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo

“It’s always better to have a consensus candidate in any organisation. That’s the ideal thing.”
Jagdeo sought to defend his party, however, by saying that, despite the fact that the voting is by secret ballot, the party is united and that each of the presidential hopefuls have pledged to support whoever the candidate will be.
“The candidates have already made their presentations to vie for the party’s nomination. The voting will be done in a matter of days. One thing that happened is that, in the presentations, every single one of the five had said that ‘If I do not become the candidate, I will work and support the other person’. They all said that, explicitly.”
He said that, even though the party was accused of squeezing out Charles Ramson Jr., even Ramson said that he would respect the process.
“Every single one of the five said ‘Yes, I will work in the interest of the party and support the candidate. You saw Charles Ramson’s statement, also.”
He said that the selection is less about a specific candidate, and more about choosing the candidate that will best suit the mandate of the party.

“This is not just about the candidate; this is about a programme that we will go to people with. We have not been criticizing any of those parties that are being formed, because we want to leave room for inclusion.”
Jagdeo noted the emergence of new parties intended to become third forces. However, he gave a stark warning.
“We hope that they don’t, in their attempt to create a space, come after us in a way that we’ll have to defend our record. [We hope that they don’t seek] to spread lies – the usual stuff – the same APNU line. [If that occurs], we may have to change our custom.”
“But right now, you see our party. We are open to civil society inclusion, to inclusion of anyone. I have seen about 30 people who’ve come off the street. These are university lecturers, etc., who want to work with us. We are leaving room for all of us now, because we can’t get APNU to engage formally. We’re going to create this big tent for everyone in the next government. That is what the approach is.”

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