Ocho partidos presentaron sus candidaturas para las elecciones generales de mayo
2015 poll a likely eight-party contest
The proverbial bell has been sounded for the homestretch leading up to the May 11 General and Regional Elections; and out of the 11 parties that initially expressed interest in contesting these elections, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has counted eight political contenders in the running.
By all accounts and historical underpinnings, the two major political contenders are the incumbent People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and the coalesced A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC).
The other parties submitting their National Top-up List, Geographical Constituencies List, and Regional Democratic Council Lists included: The United Force (TUF); the Healing The Nation Theocracy Party (HTNT); the United Republican Party (URP); the Independent Party (IP); the Organisation for the Victory of the People (OVP); and the National Independence Party (NIP).
The Guyana Small Man Party, Guyana National Congress and the Liberation Party did not make the 6:00pm deadline to enter a bid for the national leadership posts that are up for grabs.
Last time around, on October 27, 2011, some 32 parties had expressed their intention to make a bid, with only seven making their submissions to the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM) Chief Elections Officer (CEO).
PPP/C, APNU, AFC, TUF, as well as the East Berbice Development Association (EBDA), Fundamental Structure Group (FSG) and Horizon and Star were the parties that submitted their lists of candidates. The latter three have not been heard from since.
WINNING LIST
During yesterday’s Nomination Day, TUF was the first party to make its presentation, then the atmosphere became filled with a tangible enthusiasm as the leadership and members of the PPP/C made their way up the refurbished stairs of City Hall, with hundreds of supporters who rallied around the party’s leadership lining Regent Street.
His Excellency President Donald Ramotar, incumbent President and current PPP/C Presidential Candidate, said in an invited comment: “It is a winning list.”
He added, “Nominations Day is here…everything will be now much more open to the Guyanese, they will have a chance to examine our list of candidates…very important is that the public has these materials in front of them.
“We are confident that the PPP/C has the best manifesto and the best list. Promises have been made out there all the time, but we have been making great efforts at creating the social and physical infrastructure to take our country to higher places.”
The President said the aim of the PPP/C is to win a majority in the National Assembly, as this would allow the Party to advance programmes, policies and legislation to improve the lives of all Guyanese.
“When I get the majority this time, we will grow…we will provide a much better quality of life for the Guyanese people. We are not promising to buy the sky. Our promises are realistic…we’re identifying sources of finances; the country will have a great future with the PPP/C in government,” President Ramotar posited.
The PPP/C Prime Ministerial Candidate, Mrs Elisabeth Harper, echoed similar sentiments: “It is an inclusive list,” she told the Chronicle.
Having followed the PPP/C Presidential and Prime Ministerial candidates and other party members from Freedom House, the enthused procession made its way back to the party’s headquarters for a rally.
Hundreds have been included on the PPP/C list of candidates in respect to its National Top-up List, Geographical Constituencies List, and Regional Democratic Council Lists, which included dozens of new faces.
APNU+AFC
New faces were also noted in the large contingent from the APNU+AFC Alliance, which marched from the Square of the Revolution to City Hall.
Presidential Candidate for this (APNU+AFC) Alliance, Brigadier (rtd) David Granger, boasted confidently about supporters included on the APNU+AFC list of candidates. “We have committed ourselves to competence and balance…We have a list that is going to move this country forward,” he stressed.
After that alliance had submitted its lists, the APNU+AFC procession moved onto Parade Ground for a Unity Rally, where Granger’s running mate, Moses Nagamootoo, touted the success of the coalition.
He said the Nomination Day milestone is evidence of the fact that there will be ‘no divorce’ between APNU and AFC.
The political alliance between the two parties was inked on February 14 and detailed in the historic Cummingsburg Accord. Going into the coalition negotiation with APNU, the AFC controlled 21 per cent of the combined Opposition seats in Parliament, but came out with a guarantee of 40 per cent of the Cabinet and at least 12 parliamentary seats, should they succeed at the May 11, 2015 General and Regional polls.
APNU held 79 per cent of the Opposition seats in the House going into the negotiation.
GECOM’S WORK
GECOM’s Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally, in an invited comment, noted that GECOM’s Chief Elections Officer Mr Keith Lowenfield and his team are an “exact” group who are committed to “ensuring that all the ‘t’s are crossed and the ‘i’s are dotted”.
“Positive,” he declared, when asked for his view of the day’s proceedings.
Dr Surujbally said there was a notable level of camaraderie among political contenders at yesterday’s Nomination Day event.
Looking forward, he said, “My swansong has always been: (a) that everyone accepts the results and (b) that there is peace.”
The Chronicle was also informed by a senior GECOM official that the lists are expected to be completely vetted by Thursday. “Once the lists have been checked, GECOM will be able to say who qualifies to contest, and we will publish those lists. We will be good to go.”
In accordance with the electoral system of Proportional Representation, in order to qualify for a seat in the National Assembly, contesting parties must contest a minimum of six (6) of the Geographical Constituencies — totalling at least 13 seats — for eligibility to contest and submit Geographical Constituencies Lists and National Top-up Lists. This arrangement will provide for qualified contesting parties to submit, on Nomination Day, two separate Lists of Candidates.
Any political party can contest the election of members of any of the 10 Regional Democratic Councils. For this purpose, a List of Candidates must be submitted on Nomination Day.
By Vanessa Narine
We are confident that the PPP/C has the best manifesto and the best list. Promises have been made out there all the time, but we have been making great efforts of creating the social and physical infrastructure to take our country to higher places’ – President Donald Ramotar
‘We have committed ourselves to competence and balance…We have a list that is going to move this country forward” – Brigadier (rtd) David Granger
‘My swansong has always been: (a) that everyone accepts the results and (b) that there is peace’ – GECOM Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally
RACE TO POLLS – Nomination Day over, D-Day ahead
YESTERDAY was Nomination Day, which means that the big race has officially kick-started between the various political parties jostling for power in Guyana.
Amid fanfare and frenzied support from thousands of ecstatic supporters, the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) yesterday submitted what it described as “a winning list” of candidates on the party’s slate at both the General and Regional Elections billed for May 11.
The Opposition alliance, under a united coalition platform of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC), also stormed into the elections race yesterday, presenting its nominations to contest the 2015 polls as the main challenger to the incumbent PPP/C.
And of course, there were ‘the usual suspects’ of small parties, a few of which are even labelled as ‘paper parties’ that pop-up around this period known as the ‘silly season’. They add ‘colour’ to the whole affair, running in a race they obviously can’t win, and even while some may say they are somewhat of a ‘nusiance’ to the electoral process, they serve as timely reminders that our country’s democracy is at work and is on firm footing.
It is apt to note that elections season in this country has, in the past, been more characterised by campaigns built on the politics of mudslinging than the politics of progress. As much as politics is made out to be a popularity contest, that is not the case. The whole premise of a democratic political system may be summed up as follows: It is a system which credits the majority of people within a particular society with the collective opinion, information and intuition to decide on whom among them they want to govern the social environment in which they exist, giving them the right to either reaffirm their decision or change their minds periodically.
This key democratic element of socio-political flux means that those who are contesting the political leadership of a country must actually work hard to either retain or gain that leadership. There is no perpetually upheld status quo in which the will and concerns of the people become insubstantial in contrast to the whims and luxuries of an entrenched ruling class. A natural part of any contest is deconstruction of your opponent, even in a non-contact sport like long distance running, for example, you try to break your rival down by asserting your superior athleticism the first chance you get.
Of course, we expect our politicians to point out each other’s sins of omission and commission in the carrying out of their expected duties; that is par for the course in any political contest. But the contest of politics is not only about showing the deficiencies of your opponent, but also the reasons why you are better suited for the job that you both are contesting.
Mudslinging is the easiest and cheapest alternative in democratic politics – you throw as much dirt on your opponent as possible while hoping that the scum he or she throws back at you doesn’t stick.
As in many democracies around the world, at elections time, many politicians fail to realise that what they are contesting is in fact the privilege to serve the people of their country, a privilege afforded them by the electors. The ballot box is seen more as a gateway to power and riches than what it really is, a receptacle for the mass investment of trust and responsibility.
While anyone would agree that you can’t separate politics from the people practising it, what the people in politics are supposed to be representative of are the issues facing their constituencies.
DAY OF RECKONING ON HORIZON
In our Editorial last Sunday, the Chronicle alluded to the fact that the incumbent PPP/C, which is optimistically seeking a successive fifth term in government, has already signalled its preparedness to release its manifesto well ahead of Voting Day. Of much interest is what kind of credible manifesto the PNC/AFC coalition could possibly release within a reasonable time-frame prior to V-Day!
After all, the ‘shambolic’ display of the AFC for the 2011 elections is still being recalled with hilarity. Then it had managed to merely release a few pathetic pages of printed material of “promises” to justify the funds it had received from abroad, particularly from overseas-based Guyanese.
This time around, it is contesting as the junior coalition partner of the PNC. It is, therefore, expected that since they are like peas in a single pod and campaigning from a shared platform, they cannot be at variance in the policies and programmes they plan to pursue as a government.
There lies the rub! For what they really have in common is a shared hatred for the PPP/C; a political hatred that energised them to systematically oppose, for the sake of opposition, a range of major fiscal, social and economic development programmes by the PPP/C Administration. And this, mind you, to the detriment of Guyanese — across the political divide.
In our reckoning, therefore, the political marriage of convenience that has resulted in a painful delivery of the PNC/AFC pre-election anti-PPP/C coalition, seems destined to suffer the consequences on Elections Day.
The Chronicle Editorial also noted that if early assessments offer a reasonable guide, the price to be paid for reckless, opportunistic anti-PPP governance during the 10th Parliament would be forthcoming in the valid ballots of voters on May 11.
They are quite capable of making their own independent assessments of what’s best in Guyana’s national interest, as distinct from what has resulted from a political marriage of convenience in the form of a PNC/AFC “coalition”, with nothing of substance to support hateful political claims.
The day of reckoning is on the horizon. Those who have betrayed fundamental principles to hamper Guyana’s continuing patterns of progress will soon face the verdict – Progress, YES! Political deceit and sabotage, NO!
