‘Don’t be complacent, come out and vote’- Jagdeo urges supporters

Jul 15, 2025 News

---

By Anasa Williams

Kaieteur News – The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has taken a cautious approach to the upcoming general and regional elections, with Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo relaying that the party is taking nothing for granted.

Subsequent to submitting what the party deemed as the ‘winning list’, Jagdeo told journalists outside the Umana Yana that the PPP is hoping for an overwhelming majority at the polls.

“We believe, from what we have seen that that will happen, but we’re taking nothing for granted. We told our people who support us, that they have to work harder than even before to ensure that happens. We have the support, but now it’s to translate that support into votes on election day, that means high turnout,” he said.

The PPP general secretary said supporters should not be left to become complacent, as a lot of them believe that when crowds at rallies are huge, the party has already won.

“We don’t need to come out…(complacency) that could step in, and we don’t want that to happen. So, the victory, the large victory, can be assured, because we have grown in every single community in this country, every single community among every race, everyone is included, and that shows, and so I am hoping that everybody will be working towards that victory, all of our supporters, and they’re energised now to work towards that,” he assured.

To the supporters who may have been behind the PPP for all the years but are undecided for whatever reason in this cycle, the VP is pointing them to the speech of President Irfaan Ali, where he spoke about total inclusion in the party’s vision.

He assured that the party is breaking every stereotype accumulated against it over the years, and if persons go to the members of the PPP, they can feel the love and witness the treatment of a family.

“We spoke directly at our rally, our campaign launch, to those people who are sitting on the fence. And that is why I said, if you sit on the fence, analyse the policy making capacity of the PPP, analyse its implementation capacity, analyse its trustworthiness, and if you do that analysis on all three counts, we stand way above the others,” he boasted.

Meanwhile, President Irfaan Ali fiercely defended the list of candidates submitted, noting that it speaks about continuity.  He said there is a deliberate attempt to unite persons and prepare the next generation of leaders.

“This is about giving the next generation of leaders exposure experience, because we believe in Guyana. We believe in Guyana 30-40, years from now, and the only way we can deliver that Guyana to successive generations is if we prepare leaders, if we prepare our young people, if you give them a chance, and that is what you see we’re doing on this list too,” he assured.

Subsequently, at the railway line on Lamaha and Main Streets, the president told supporters that they should not believe for one minute that they have lost anyone. They should go back to their communities and tell their stories on social media, the corners of the streets and to the residents because there is only one story they could tell, which is “a story of love, peace, unity and prosperity with the PPP/C.”

On Monday, scores of PPP supporters assembled at party headquarters, Freedom House on Robb Street, to march in solidarity as the party presented its list of candidates for the September 1 elections.

In true Guyanese fashion, the party had a troupe of dancers, dressed in party colours leading the procession, gyrating with seemingly choregraphed moves as several party jingles blasted from the human sized speakers of the power tech sound system.

At 09:30hrs sharp, all Cabinet members were assembled dressed in their red and the procession made its way east on Robb Street. All along the way, police officers and wardens dressed in fluorescent orange vests, had a seemingly difficult time keeping the crowd together, leaving onlookers to wonder if it was excitement or sheer disorder.

Turning onto Camp Street, several stops were made along the way for photo ops with the president and his Cabinet members, but also for the deejay to remind supporters that they were to remain behind the line of officials, the truck and the dancers leading the way.

Despite the scorching sun, patrons relentlessly trudged on, their thirsts quenched periodically by chilled bottles of water handed out by comrades. At the intersections of Camp and Lamaha, they were led onto the latter and the march continued.

There were periodic chants of “we voting PPP” and “Ali is we president” but due to the loud nature of soca music blasting, they were hardly heard. As the procession got nearer to Main Street and patrons realised that they were about to head onto the same stretch the Umana Yana is on they sprinted ahead, leaving dancers, trucks and officials behind.

Getting them under control again was a task and after what seemed like eternity, the entire procession of red arrived at the barricade outside of the venue. Due to the number of persons present, security had to tighten their grasps on the suitcase which contained the list, the President, Vice President and Prime Ministers as they were amongst the presenters.

Amidst the toss and tussle, they resorted to letting the crowd know that there were refreshments and an after party at the old train station back at Lamaha Street.  In a flash, they dispersed and the other Cabinet members were able to relax without fear of being trampled by their own.

---

• approach, cautious, Jagdeo, Patrons, PPP

---