Democracy, development came in 1992; we are holding on

Dear Editor,

I am one of those individuals who can be classified as an overseas based Guyanese. I live in Guyana for three months at a time before going back home. Guyana is my home. I am a Guyanese no matter how long I have been in a foreign place. So it is with great interest I follow everything that goes on in the country. My country’s affairs are mine, everything there is intertwined in my psyche, it is riveted in my mind. I would like to do a brief comparison of my makeshift homeland St Lucia and Guyana. You would remember that both countries held their elections on the same day in 2011, with similar results for both territories.

The only difference here is that the UWP lost in a first past the post system (constituency system) while the PPP/C gained victory in a proportional representation system commonly called (PR).

In fact when you look at the two systems, one lost because of their traditional base which runs strictly along constituency lines, that is, St Lucia. Had it been a PR system – where every vote counts – the UWP would have won handsomely.

Because several constituencies saw the ruling SLP winning by a measly two votes. Unlike St Lucia, our system makes more for a fairer fight. PR in Guyana irons out that torturous plight of losing by one vote.

Our system lends more for a fairer fight; a situation of merit, you must get so many thousand votes for a seat in parliament. Our election saw a clear cut winner in the PPP/C with 32 seats.

The nearest rival was APNU with 26 seats and the AFC, seven seats. What happened thereafter was an illegality, wherein the AFC teamed with APNU against the PPP/C to have a one-seat majority.

It is an illegal act for which the PR Constitution makes no provision. Further, the Guyana Constitution does not make provision for a crossing of the floor like the constituency system does. Things remain as is after an election is held. For you to cross over it has to be done prior to an election.

It is this backdrop that caused the AFC to join forces with the APNU in the upcoming May 11 election, thinking that a combined Opposition can defeat the PPP/C. It is also their mistaken belief that the people will buy into that plan.

And this is my point; would the people buy into that plan? I think not! What is clear is that the people of Guyana had a choice in 2011 in a third party, the AFC, now we have none.

A vote for the AFC is a vote for the arch enemy APNU. Central to the larger party, APNU is the PNC – very visible and very strong. There is no way those who voted for the AFC are going to wantonly squander their votes, knowing fully well that it will go to shore up the repulsive PNC/APNU. It will not happen. The people of Guyana aren’t stupid, nor are they amnesiac as the PNC/APNU would have us believe. They are of the erroneous assumption that the youths who were not around in the 1960s could be corralled into their web of lies and vote for them.

Neil Adams