The PPPC and the PNCR are symbiotic twins

Mar 31, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

---

Kaieteur News – The PPP needs the PNC and the PNC needs the PPP. The two cannot exist without each other.

There is symbiotic relationship between the two and that is why they thrive on each other’s existence. The PPP preys on the insecurity generated among its supporters because of the presence of the PNC and vice versa.  Take away one and the other will see a serious decline in support.

The PPP knows that the PNCR is now at its weakest. The rigging of the elections, the PNCR’s failure to muster public protests in support of it is dubious claim that the PPP benefitted from dead and migrant voters and the ongoing factionalism within the PNC have all combined to weaken the PNCR.

In normal circumstances, this should have made the PPPC very happy. After all, if your nemesis is weak, you should be happy. But given the symbiotic relationship between the PPP and the PNC, a weak PNC makes the PPP weaker, not stronger. In other words, the PPPC needs a strong PNCR to arouse the insecurities needed for its supporters to turn out in their numbers to vote for the party, and vice versa.

The event hosted at Babu Jaan last week was a pappy show. Berbicians did not turn out in massive numbers. More persons came from outside of the Region to attend the event. Even school children were mustered to attend the event, something which should be condemned because this was a partisan activity. A Permanent Secretary was also present at the event, an affront to the political neutrality one expects of the holder of such an office.

Even before the event, the PPPC leadership was giving more prominence to the PNCR and its criticisms of the government than are deserved. If the PPPC feels that there is no merit in the claims about ethnic discrimination, why highlight this to the extent that the PPPC has been doing. If the PNCR is a discredited force, then why should the PPPC be so obsessed with that party?

The fact of the matter is that local government elections are due soon. The PPP knows that it will sweep those polls as it did in 2016 and 2018 when it secured, in the latter, close to 60% of the total votes cast. The turnout at local government elections is very low: less than 40% of the electorate, compared with more than 70% at general and regional elections.

Without a strong PNC challenge, the PPPC will be unable to muster the sort of support it needs to show that it enjoys strong national support. A strong PNCR however will galvanize PPPC supporters to turn out in numbers. And the PPPC needs impressive numbers to secure the marginal municipalities of Rose Hall Town, Lethem and Mabaruma.

It is therefore in the PPPC’s interests- both long-term and short-term – for there to be a strong PNCR. But the reality is that since the PNCR is weak the PPPC faces a dilemma. It has to make the PNCR appear as a threat to progress and democracy. It has to make the PNCR appear strong Doing so will trigger the PPPC supporters to come out in their numbers.

This is why the focus on a recent PPP press conference was so much about the Opposition. This is why the focus of the recent event at Babu Jaan was about removing racialism. The PPP is attempting to galvanize its support base by highlighting the attempts of the opposition to divide the country. The PPPC needs the PNCR to be factor in the forthcoming elections because even though the absence of the PNCR will guarantee a walkover for the PPPC, any such victory will be Pyrrhic victory, and the absence of a credible opposition can hardly be seen as a credible evidence of functioning democracy.

The PNCR has seemingly taken a decision that it has to contest the forthcoming local government elections in order to prevent a takeover of its strongholds. This would appear to suggest that the PNCR expects to overall lose these elections but wishes to maintain its stranglehold on the municipalities and the neighbourhood democratic councils which it now controls. Even with a low turnout, the PNCR should have no problems in retaining control of these areas.

But the PPPC needs the PNCR to guarantee its retention of power in the municipalities and nehighbourhood democratic councils the ruling party controls. Without the threat posed by the PNCR, the PPPC will be unable to mobilize its supports to come out in sufficient numbers to demonstrate that the ruling party enjoys credible national support.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

---

• Babu Jaan, Peeping Tom, PNC, PNCR, PPP, symbiotic

---