A national pro-democracy platform should be established

Jul 27, 2020 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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The Opposition political forces inGuyana are making a fatal error. They are presently enjoying a windfall of regional and international solidarity in the face of the APNU+AFC’s brazen attempt to steal the elections.
But they must not assume that regional and international pressure alone would be sufficient to deter and overcome the political forces that are threatening to revert the country, once again, to a backward and anachronistic political culture.
International and regional pressure must be backed by local efforts. International sanctions must be backed by robust local efforts to defend democracy.
This will demonstrate to the world that majority of the people of Guyana do not accept dictatorship.
The Opposition political parties must not find themselves being overly dependent on international ostracism and sanctions.
They must begin to organize in order to strengthen the local pro-democracy movement.
The APNU+AFC having pushed Guyana into the political backwaters can no longer be entrusted with navigating the country into a bright economic future. If history teaches us anything, it is that progress cannot emerge from backward politics.
The APNU+AFC has now come to embody political backwardness. To believe that in the 21st century, they can rig an election in front of the entire international community is evidence that the APNU+AFC is living in a time capsule from a bygone age.
The APNU+AFC is attempting to murder electoral democracy. If it succeeds in this diabolical plot, free and fair elections will be a thing of the past. The Guyanese people will never again enjoy the right to choose a government of their choice. The country would have fallen into the hands of electoral bandits who will deliver ruination.
It is for this reason that local pro-democracy forces should unite under a single platform to defend the right of people to choose a government of their choice. Without this right, all freedoms will be subject to the caprices of the dictatorship-in-the making.The Guyanese people have demonstrated that they are prepared to defend their democracy.
A non-partisan group called Guardians of Democracy guarded the ballot boxes for months, prior to and during the recount exercise. Activists, drawn from the Opposition political parties, at great risk, worked around the clock during the pandemic, to ensure the integrity of the recount. Lawyers, not associated with any of the Opposition political parties, have come forward to defend the right to free and fair elections. The independent media houses have been fearless in exposing the APNU+AFC’s undemocratic conduct.
Civil society has also been involved in the defence of democracy. The Federation of Independent Trade Unions (FITUG), the largest block of unionized workers in the country, along with the Private Sector Commission, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Inter-religious Organization of Guyana, are among the groupings which have taken a stance in defence of democracy.
A number of individuals, including Christopher Ram, Selywn Peters, Paul Nehru Tennessee and Dominic Gaskin, have been outspoken in condemning the shenanigans to rig the elections. Then there is the silent majority who do not appreciate what the APNU+AFC has been attempting to do.
The smaller political parties – Change Guyana, The New Movement, A New and United Guyana and the Liberty and Justice Party – have stood tall in defending the ballot.
These parties collectively represent almost 10,000 of the electorate. But the symbolism of them coming together to defend democracy will be far more powerful than their electoral record.
Guyana cannot depend on international sanctions alone to ensure that the APNU+AFC respect the democratic will of the people. The international sanctions must be backed by strong broad-based action to ensure electoral democracy and to lay the foundation for electoral reform so that never again would Guyana be subject to electoral banditry.
Private criminal charges have been leveled to prosecute electoral malpractice. These cases are of such importance to the deterrence of future electoral fraud that it must not be allowed to segue into political theater.
The best legal resources must be mobilized to ensure a successful prosecution.
The APNU+AFC seems determined to thwart the democratic will of the people. They must not be allowed to succeed. A broad-based pro-democracy movement will ensure that this movement is not divided along ethnic lines. Persons are attempting to stoke the flame of ethnic conflict by falsely projecting the electoral crisis as an ethnic crisis.
A small band of brigands is holding this country to ransom. Pro-democracy forces and individuals must come together under a single platform to confront the monster that is bent on crushing democracy.
International sanction alone is not enough. The APNU+AFC and all those who undermine democracy must be exposed, condemned and ostracized, locally as well.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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