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Choosing between bad and worse

Mar 31, 2025 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Peeping Tom…

Kaieteur News- I’ve always had an aversion to elections, which I suppose is natural for someone who also has an aversion to large crowds, loud noises, and things that require standing in line.

Democracy is a wonderful thing in theory—like monogamy, dieting, and watching only one episode of a show at a time. But in practice, it often leads to buyer’s remorse.

Guyana, of course, has perfected the art of electoral redundancy. Every five years, we are presented with a buffet of choices that consist mainly of chicken curry and curry chicken. And yet, every so often, a brave soul emerges from the mist, boldly proclaiming that he is the answer to our national malaise. This is the one-person political aspirant.

One-person political aspirants are fascinating creatures. They exist in a world of pure confidence, undeterred by minor details such as history, political arithmetic or the fact that no one actually asked them to run. They believe that their sheer force of will, charisma, and the votes they believe they can secure will carry them to victory.

The problem is that the shelf-life of third parties is pretty short. Oh, we flirt with them from time to time like the way a man in a long-term relationship might flirt with a woman—just enough to feel excited but never enough to leave the wife. Some like the AFC stick around longer than others. But their demise is inevitable.

Guyanese voters are a paradox. They have a well-documented history of complaining about the two-party domination of the country’s politics, while simultaneously ensuring the perpetuation of this system. If the two major parties are a toxic relationship, then third parties are the well-meaning but ultimately irrelevant friend who keeps saying, “You should leave them,” only to be met with a shrug.

This is where the power of staying home comes in. For years, there was little alternative to voting for one of the two main parties. And when the United Force became a shell after its main support base migrated in droves, and when the AFC became ‘dead meat’ after jumping into the mix with the PNCR, the third party alternatives evaporated.  For 2025 there will be no viable third party to vote for.

So, what is the next best option? Staying home on Election Day.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Staying home doesn’t solve anything. It’s passive, it’s lazy, and it leaves democracy on its own. But consider this: what if mass non-voting was framed not as apathy but as a deliberate act of resistance? A powerful signal that says, “We refuse to pick between bad and worse.” What if, instead of dragging ourselves to the polling stations to cast a vote for the lesser of two evils, we simply enjoyed the national holiday by sleeping in, drinking coconut water, and binge-watching Netflix?

You see, voting has always been presented as the most sacred of democratic duties. But what if the real sacred duty is refusing to validate a system that has done nothing but frustrate us for decades?

The truth is, our elections have become an exercise in inevitability. It has become an expensive and tense ritual where people line up to endorse the status quo. We know who will win. We know who will protest or seek to rig.

The one-person political aspirants, of course, believe they can change this. They believe that their unique blend of righteous indignation can upend decades of entrenched political loyalty. But Guyana does not elect politicians; we inherit them. Politics here is less about policies and more about ethnic voting.

The one-man political party doesn’t stand a chance. So why do they run? The answer is simple: ego and the fact that people egg them on by faking support for them. One-person aspirants believe they are special. That despite all evidence to the contrary, they will be the exception. They believe this right up until the moment the votes are counted, at which point they disappear into obscurity.

And so, the cycle continues. The two-party system marches on, the third parties fade away, and the one-man movements collapse under the weight of their own delusion. But what if, just once, we disrupted this cycle? What if, instead of engaging in the farce, we simply refused to play? What if Election Day became National Hammock Day, a day where citizens collectively chose peace over politics, tranquility over turmoil?

Would it change anything? Probably not. But at least we’d get to enjoy a stress-free day.

(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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