NY-based Guyanese call on political parties to ensure peaceful elections

By Vishnu Bisram

New York-based Guyanese are pleased that President Donald Ramotar has announced a date, May 11, 2015, for election in accordance with the Constitution of Guyana. Guyanese living in New York and other areas in the United States feel the announcement of a date for the election will put an end to the idle chatter about the intention of the minority-led PPP government. They have since issued a strong call for a peaceful elections atmosphere.

Guyanese in the diaspora were anxiously awaiting a date for the election since the President has not been able to convene parliament because of the Opposition’s refusal to compromise over a no confidence motion.

Guyana has been having democratic elections since 1992 when the PPP was catapulted into office after it was dethroned in 1964 through an electoral conspiracy hatched by the US and Britain.

The PNC, which came to power in a coalition government in December 1964, with support from the US and Britain, rigged every election thereafter denying the people the right to choose a government. Most overseas-based Guyanese have credited the PPP for restoration of democracy and the progress the country has made since 1992.

Many feel the PPP should have called the election ever since the opposition cut the budget in April 2012.

Guyanese-Americans express hope and call for the political parties to take measures to ensure a free, fair, peaceful and transparent election. They also call on the parties to accept the outcome of the elections. They call on the parties to make an agreement to accept the will of the electorate and welcome the call by the President to invite international observers from UNASUR, CARICOM, Commonwealth, OAS, and the United Nations.

They feel that the Carter Center should also observe the polls and that foreign troops should be invited as happened in past elections to guarantee a peaceful atmosphere since “trouble makers” are known to engage in violence to intimidate voters preventing them from casting ballots.

Supporters of all three parties are upbeat about their electoral prospects and they hope for a clear verdict as opposed to the one in November 2011 that produced a hung assembly in which the PPP got 32 seats and the combined Opposition 33 seats. The constitution allows the single party with the most seats to form a government. The last Parliament has failed to enact meaningful legislation and there was a logjam over passage of bills. Most of those this writer spoke with say a hung parliament has failed Guyana.