Guyanese are accustomed to the polarizing nature of our politics

Jul 26, 2025 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – The claims and counter claims of rigged elections notwithstanding, Guyanese have grown accustomed to the polarizing nature of our politics especially at elections time, during the campaigning period for votes and the tension that surface whenever the announcement of the results is imminent.

What is important to acknowledge, is that on the positive side, while there is always room for improvement, significant achievements have been accomplished over the years as regards our electoral laws and procedures. Those born at the end of the 1980’s or early 1990’s would hardly know about the days when our elections were described as ‘fairy tale elections’ and as ‘crooked as barbed wire’.

Unless such occurrences are explained by seniors to preceding generations, they might find it hard to believe. Admittedly, it can be argued that they may have had some insights into what was told to them based on what they themselves would have observed during the March to August 2020 period.

Today, as it was on the eve of the 2011 and 2015 elections the call for and against ‘a change in government’ has crept into newspaper editorials, campaign speeches, talk shows and social media platforms. It looked as though small blocs of voters were moving away from the parties, they traditionally supported.

From all indications, the clamour for a change in government is being fed by those who seem to be afflicted by red carpet fever and a hunger for political power. Contextually, it appeared as though Guyana’s political landscape was being redefined by a series of centrifugal developments due to the emergence of a number of upstarts on the political scene.

It was this rapidly developing political situation that raised alarm bells in some political quarters where, on the one hand, the call for a change in government made principally by the newcomers could be heard; on the other hand, warnings from others were heard cautioning traditional supporters not to ‘gamble with their future’, not to ‘split or waste their vote’ and ‘not to succumb to vote-buying.’ From the PPP/C, a strong message was sent to its supporters that; political and other forces ‘are working to ensure that the PPP/C does not have a majority in Parliament.’

In the midst of these newly emerging developments, some newspaper columnists and social media influencers claimed that the rejection of the call for a change in government was driven by a certain degree of fear over encroachment on turf historically supportive of either the PPP or PNC. Voters were told, that the stakes were so high that it had to do with the country’s future.

In the case of the PPP/C, the pushback against the call for a change in government was reflected in its warning against vote splitting. Supporters were told and that the party needed 55,000 votes from Berbicians in 2025 instead of the 40,000 it received in the 2020 elections. The party further declared that this time around, it has ‘its eyes set on winning New Amsterdam,’ a traditional stronghold of the PNC.

For a party to push back against encroachment by another on its traditional support, the formulation and implementation of an effective campaign strategy must assume great urgency. Such a strategy, can raise political awareness amongst its supporters and spur them into action to fight off any perceived threat to its base.

In the final analysis, a well-designed and organized fight back characterized by defiance, not capitulation would be justified in order to regain lost ground if any.

Such actions would make a lot of sense since people, once convinced, will easily overcome the acquiescence and submissiveness they might have mistakenly succumbed to.

Moreover, most probably, they would have concluded that should no action be taken on their part. It would, in the long term, impact negatively their livelihood knowing that the upstarts ought not to be the preferred alternatives to govern the country.

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