The PNC/R is breaking its own heart

May 22, 2021 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The leadership of the PNC/R is fooling no one other than itself that the PPP/C rigged the 2020 elections.

If the PPP/C had done so, there was no way that the PNC/R and its supporters would have condoned that. No amount of international support of conspiracy would have prevented the PNC/R from undoing the rigging.

If the PPP/C had rigged the elections, the supporters of the PNC/R would have taken to the streets and would not have relented until justice was served. That this did not happen meant that the supporters of the PNC/R did not fall victim to the narrative of their party being cheated out of office.

On the day after the election, the APNU+AFC realised that it had lost the elections. It had to have known this, because its leaders were at the Campaign Headquarters all night on Election Day and would have been tabulating the results from Statements of Poll, as transmitted by the party polling agents. They had to have known by daybreak the following day that their grip on power had slipped.

In fact, word had filtered out that the PPP/C had won the elections. One emotional and highly irate supporter of the APNU took to social media. She began by saying, “Right now, they are claiming that the PPP… that the PPP won the election.”

Then she got all-emotional and broke down into tears while exclaiming, “Like seriously, that is so unbelievable right now.” She then threw a tantrum, berating the Leader of the PNC/R, David Granger, telling him “if yuh gat to rig it, rig it.”

Word therefore was already circulating among the supporters of the PNC/R and the AFC, that the PPP/C had won the elections.

The APNU+AFC however opted to peddle a different narrative. It began with a pseudo-celebration outside of the Campaign Headquarters even though the leaders of the Coalition merely thanked their supporters without announcing victory.

In the drama, which followed at the GECOM Centre on Hadfield Street and High Street, the narrative changed. The Coalition claimed that its Statements of Poll confirmed the numbers, which were being announced by Mingo. It said that it had won the elections.

Then, after the decision to undertake the Recount, the narrative took a sudden twist. We heard about Russian involvement in the elections.

In addition, when the Recount began, the Coalition changed its tune; it was no longer claiming victory but instead began to contend that the very elections, which it had previously said it had won, were tainted with irregularities. One leader went on television and explained how the dead came out of their tombs, voted and then went back in. Others claimed how overseas Guyanese voted.

None of these narratives gained much traction within the society. People were not fooled. The supporters of the Coalition understood the need for an excuse for their party’s defeat but people were not being fooled into believing the ‘jumbie’ tales of dead people voting. This is why the supporters of the APNU+AFC did not take to the streets to protest the swearing in of Irfaan Ali as President.

No amount of foreign pressure or legal decisions would have prevented such actions had the supporters of the APNU+AFC genuinely believed that the Coalition was cheated out of office. Once there was a hint that the elections were rigged, the supporters of the Coalition would not have entertained that.

The Coalition was determined to retain political office by hook or crook. But it could not muster public support for this cause, because its supporters knew in their hearts that the Coalition had lost the elections. And so, they did not take to the streets.

The APNU+AFC is therefore only deceiving itself when it continues to peddle the narrative that the PPP/C was engaged in mischief and that it was installed with the support of foreign governments. The supporters of the Coalition know the truth about what happened, and who were the agent provocateurs engaged in attempting to rig the elections and who would have benefited from such actions.

The actions of the Coalition after the 2^nd March have been a great embarrassment to the supporters of the Coalition. They may not come out and say so but most of them are ashamed of what took place.

The APNU+AFC can pretend that it was the victim of the 2020 elections. But if it continues with this charade, it will only alienate large sections of the electorate who are not convinced by its false narratives.

(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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