Coalition talks among opposition parties currently seem more preoccupied with who is going to lead the platform, WPA co-leader Dr. Rupert Roopnarine said yesterday, noting that this issue is less important than what the alliance is going to be based on.
The Working People’s Alliance (WPA) has long endorsed an opposition coalition and the party’s approach to this has not changed in over two decades. Roopnarine said the thrust towards an opposition coalition is the way forward, but the WPA is interested in participating in a “principled coalition.”
Interest in a combined opposition has accelerated within recent weeks and observers have pointed to the approach by the Alliance For Change (AFC) in exploring the idea as a positive indication. Roopnarine believes in the alliances, saying that more parties combining are more effective than single parties because “it is about parties essentially bringing their strengths to bear.”
The WPA has not been directly involved in the recent thrust towards an opposition coalition for next year’s general elections, but the party has been consistently courted. Roopnarine told Stabroek News in an interview that the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) has reached out for an alliance through its leader Robert Corbin and according to him the WPA has always been interested. “We have been longing for this and would participate in the next election in a principled coalition,” Roopnarine stated. He said that for any coalition to succeed at the polls and in serving the populace it must agree beforehand on an economic, political and social programme around which the parties can unite. With such a programme in place, he noted, the question of a coalition government becomes easier.
He said the programme is crucial because it means that the coalition having agreed on it unanimously would be held to it. He said that among the primary objectives of the coalition should be how to deal with the “economic apartheid” in the country, describing it as the gap between the extremely wealthy and the poor. He added that the gap is currently the “widest I have seen in my life.” “… We have to bear in mind that we have to present the electorate with a real choice, a change from the present policies which in my mind are destructive…destructive of our institutions for example,” he noted. He said it is important that parties unite as early as possible and work out the way forward for the country. Roopnarine said this serves as the basis for any opposition coalition, adding that without this kind of focus it would hardly be a coalition and more a “shot-gun wedding that is not going to work very well.”
What is interesting about what is happening now, Roopnarine said, is the political players in the opposition camps have all expressed an interest. He said people are encouraged by the regional examples of coalition government, noting that while this is good, people need to remember “Guyana has its own unique circumstances.” He said this country’s electoral system differs a great deal from those in Trinidad and Tobago and more so, Suriname.
He said players in the opposition camp should have already been engaged in discussions on whether they will continue to accept the electoral system as it is for the 2011 elections. Roopnarine noted that critical reforms are necessary, pointing to the need for definitive constituencies. He said the ten administrative regions are not proper constituencies as pointed out prior to the 2001 elections and he referred to this particular policy as an absurdity.
There is also the issue of geographical representation, he said, stressing that there is a weakness in the list system. He said there is no real connection between a Member of Parliament and a body of voters in a constituency. He said parties also have to agree whether they intend to challenge as a coalition the incomplete electoral system reform which was promised under the Hermandston Accord. “While I am particularly encouraged by the thrust towards a coalition I am not particularly encouraged by the issues these parties are engaging in,” Roopnarine said. He noted that the coalition would have its work cut out since it would also have to address issues such as voter registration. He added that there are other voices in the society, outside of political parties, who are interested in an opposition coalition.
On the issue of previous coalition attempts, Roopnarine said they suffered because no one sat down and decided on the programme, which is critical. He opined that building an alliance in Guyana would always face serious challenges, but stressed that the problems are not insurmountable. He emphasised that the WPA would not approach a coalition with any conditions, but that it would bring certain things to the table and this includes the creation of a work programme. “Without a planned economic, social and political programme the coalition stands more of a chance to fail than to succeed,” he added.
Further, he said the question of who leads the coalition is important, but that it should not be the immediate focus. He said the coalition should deal with the issues that are less contentious before it addresses the question of leadership. “Let’s start with the areas on which we can find agreement and build along the line,” he said.
Member of Parliament of the Guyana Action Party (GAP), Everall Franklin agrees with Roopnarine on the role of a coalition government. He said the opposition coalition would be guided by what is in the best interest of the country and build on this and he insisted that if a slate of opposition parties can offer Guyanese people something better then “it is our duty to do so.”
Franklin has been engaged in the recent talks since according to him, no single entity and or individual party will have the answer for the challenges facing the country. He said GAP’s position is to facilitate and support any thrust in the direction of a combined opposition coalition that will bring about the necessary change.
Franklin stressed that the issue of shared governance is nothing new and has in fact been discussed for years. He questioned why an opposition coalition is being viewed as anything more than a platform seeking to promote shared governance at that level. Franklin asked why the reactions of “fear and shock” in addition to “what has been reported in some sections of the press.”
But he concluded that the incumbent will always be weary of any purposeful, opposition coalition which intends to put the country first, above party politics. He said individual parties are likely to have pre-conditions before signing onto a broad coalition, noting that some issues would be negotiable and others would not. However, he stated that such conditions would have to be weighed against what the coalition stands to offer a Guyanese public.
He said too that the parties have the advantage of hindsight from the unsuccessful attempts at previous elections, noting that the factors which plagued the parties then were minuscule and can be worked around. Franklin also touched on the issue raised by Joey Jagan about whether the parties included in an opposition coalition should sign a public document, saying that the issue is among many matters which can be worked out later in the discussions between the parties.
Jagan, in a letter published in Stabroek News yesterday, suggested that the basis for a coalition has to be a document which is public and signed, sealed and delivered “to the citizens of Guyana with a commitment from each member of such a coalition to abide, to the last breath, by what they signed.” Jagan listed a 15-point basic agreement which he said should be followed, noting among other things the need for constitutional and election reform; reforms in the security sector and the judicial system and reducing the Valued Added Tax (VAT).
