IS GUYANA, DESTINED FOR WEAK GOVERNMENT?—PART 1

Dec 06, 2019 News

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By Donald Ramotar

Political parties are mushrooming in Guyana these days. We have far more political parties than any other country in the Caribbean and one of the highest in the Commonwealth. The last count shows that Guyana has some 20 political parties.
Why is it that so many parties are emerging on our political scene?
No doubt some would interpret this as a testimony to our “democratic” society. Some outsiders, unfamiliar with our political history and today’s reality would think that democracy is flourishing here.
That would have been true during the period 1992 to May 2015. However, since then we have seen a great decline in democratic practices. Accountability has almost totally disappeared and the regime has shown scant regards for our constitution and the rule of law. Moreover, racial and political discrimination are rampant in our country.
I am sure that even the most ardent supporter of the APNU+AFC regime will have to admit that, using the yardstick of abiding by constitutions and respecting the rule of law, Guyana is the most undemocratic regime in the region.
As this article is being prepared, we see all the signs that the regime is preparing to rig the upcoming elections, scheduled for March 2020 and perpetuate itself in power. This is more a case of history repeating itself.
Yet, the growth of political parties in our society is natural and, had we begun to have free and fair elections much earlier, this spurt in the amount of parties may have happened long before now.
Even though we see the proliferation of parties, this is not the limit. More parties may well emerge before the 2020 elections and possibly even after.
The reason for this growth is no doubt the electoral system that we have. Proportional Representation (PR) encourages the rise of many political parties.
This system is alien to almost all of the Commonwealth countries. Almost all these countries have the Constituency system, popularly known as the “First Pass the Post” system. This is the system in the United Kingdom that was adopted by almost all the countries of the commonwealth and many others outside of the Commonwealth.
The “First Past the Post” system creates conditions for strong political parties to contest specific areas where the people’s representative would be well known. It is widely recognised as a more representative system, demands more accountability and delivers better representation to the masses, the electors.
This was the system that we had up to 1961. It was replaced in 1964 by Proportional Representation (PR). The record would show that the number of parties were much less before PR electoral system was introduced.
In 1953, three parties contested the elections, they were the People’s Progressive Party, National Democratic Party (NDP) and the People’s National Party (PNP). Independent candidates also participated for various constituencies. In fact, 86 independent candidates took part.
In 1957, five political parties, PPP (J), PPP (B), NLF, UDP, GNP and six independent candidates contested.
In 1961, three parties contested, PPP; PNC; and UF: No independent candidates took part in those elections. These were the last elections where the First Past the Post method was used.
In 1964, the first elections held under the system of Proportional Representation (PR), seven parties contested. They were PPP; PNC; UF; Justice Party; Guyana United Muslim Party; Peace, Equality and Prosperity Party (PEPP); and National Labour Front.
From these first elections under P.R. we see a growth in the quantity of parties emerging. Some were organized on Religious grounds, and other smaller interests.
As is well known, the PR system was not imposed on us because the British thought that it was a better system. Indeed, this system first arose in the United Kingdom but was discarded as unsuitable.
Up to today, the British still have the Constituency system. So does the overwhelming number of Commonwealth Countries. Many politicians have a negative view of it.
Harold Wilson, a former Prime Minister of UK, described it as a “fiddled arrangement.” The main fear was that it would create weak governments.
The first objective of the colonial power in imposing the Proportional Representation system on the then British Guiana was to remove the PPP from office before Independence and to install a coalition of the PNC and the United Force.
They did not want a political party that was truly independent and sought to manage the country in the interest of its people as the PPP had tried, to take control in a post-colonial Guyana.
That was not the only reason. The British had another reason in mind that was not so obvious as the first, which was the removal of the PPP. That other reason was to ensure that our country would always have weak governments.
They envisaged that no one party would be able to take the government, that we should always have coalitions. By this method, they felt that control of the government would always be in the hands of the colonial power or the United States that had replaced Britain as the main power in the world.
It was an arrangement to keep a multi-racial, multi-cultural society divided. (To be continued)

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