Superior organisational strength and media gave PPP the advantage

Sep 11, 2025 Letters

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Dear Editor,

It has been suggested that PPP’s money advantage determined or influenced the outcome of the election. WIN also spent a lot of money as suggested by Clement Rohee (Sep 10). No doubt, the PPP and WIN enjoyed an advantage in funding over the others. But financial resources was not the only factor in which the ruling party had an advantage. The ruling party had superior organization over the other parties.

This is largely attributed to the political acumen of party leader Bharrat Jagdeo. Those who dismissed the political skills of the all-powerful and feared PPP leader did so at their own peril. He is a master election strategist, a shrewd, cunning, perennial election campaigner, with none of his like in Guyana or even in the Caribbean. Jagdeo is known to start campaigning right after the first day of the swearing in of a new government. He is the most experienced campaigner having been closely involved in the planning and organizing of every election (6 general in all plus three locals) since 1997, prior to 2025. He and Ali have scripted the PPP victory.

Some also suggested that the PPP enjoyed the advantage of incumbency and access to state resources as well as using government projects (opening of schools, hospitals, highways, bridges, handouts, etc.) during the campaign period to boost its election prospects. Incumbency is a natural advantage; it comes with being in office in every country. But incumbents, including the PPP and APNU, were known to suffer defeats. The ruling PNC (in 2011 renamed APNU) lost in 1992. The incumbent PPP lost its majority in 2011 and was defeated in 2015. The ruling APNU led coalition was trounced in 2020. So incumbency, while giving advantage to a ruling party, does not guarantee victory.

In addition to monetary resources and incumbency, organization as well as governance, particularly by the PPP, had significantly influenced election outcomes in Guyana for the local in 2023 and the general in 2025. PPP had superior organizational strength than the others and ran a slick campaign, guaranteeing a total victory, a decisive mandate. The party ran effective campaign with a well-oiled machine, with its ability to conduct numerous rallies at the community and national levels as well as micro-manage polling booths, giving it a significant edge over less-organized and less funded opponents.

The PPP, throughout its history, has had a massive, dedicated volunteer base (as well as paid staff over the last several elections) with great networking from the street level to the entire community (NDC) to the regional level to the national level. These “foot soldiers” were critical for mobilization, street or ground-level outreach and door-to-door campaigning. During campaigns, grassroots members collected voter information and actively worked to persuade them to vote for the party. The party stayed in touch with every voter in its traditional base to consolidate support. Where issues or concerns with voters were found with voters, the party sent in seniors to speak with them to convince them to support it.

Where a voter transferred district, he or she filed a change of address. Where not possible, the voter was transported free to the right polling station to cast ballot. No effort was spared to consolidate support. Scrutineers checked every list on every street and identify and got in touch with every voter. The party knew its projected vote count in every NDC and region.

Besides identifying supporters, the party’s strategy focused on meticulous polling booth management. There it also had volunteers and paid staff (polling agents) as well as observers (including from North America, UK, and the Caribbean) to deter skullduggery.

The party has a centralized and hierarchical structure from the national level down to regional, sub-regional, and local areas. It had dedicated functionaries with a clear chain of command and the efficient dissemination of party messages and instructions from the general secretary or leader and the President (albeit somewhat less involved in day to day organizing because he was preoccupied with governance) to the grassroots. Jagdeo was key to organizational structure; he gave out instructions and kept a constant tab on every organizational action to make sure the party was battle ready and maximizing its base support. Jagdeo also used strategically used technology and built an “Ali/Jagdeo/Phillips” brand that was promoted widely.

The party used extensive data to run a highly targeted campaign. This allowed it to tailor messaging to specific voter segments and address local issues effectively. Digital campaign was also used to reach out to voters. Modern technology was leveraged including creating WhatsApp, Facebook, and other social media groups to spread its message and counter opposition narratives. Huge social media campaign reached out to voters across the nation. The party received more than ten times the traditional and social media coverage of the opposition.

The opposition could not compete with the PPP on financial and human resources as well as using modern technology. Also, the combination of voter mobilization, a huge volunteer base, and an organized party structure ensured that the PPP had a high voter turnout than the opposition. There was some dissatisfaction with PPP and many thought the party would lose seats because of inflation and allegations against some Ministers. But Jagdeo was confident the PPP would win a majority. The dissatisfaction was overcome by great organizational networking and visits by the President and Vice President to communities and national addresses assuring them that change was coming. The verdict defied predictions of those who thought PPP would win a minority led government. WIN did not make the breakthrough of a victory as its supporters had hoped for, but it has put in a very strong performance. AFC and ALP were wiped out. The FGM (Amanza Walton-Desir) deserve accolades for winning a seat.

Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram

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• election result, media, PPP, superior organization, Vishnu Bisram, win

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