PPP executive Navin Chandarpal says that President Bharrat Jagdeo insulted members of the party’s central committee when he said at a press conference that he wanted an open vote for the next presidential candidate to ensure that candidates don’t promise things in return for votes.
In a letter to appear in tomorrow’s edition of Stabroek News, Chanderpal referred to Jagdeo’s statement two Mondays ago on secret balloting where he said “… more importantly, there is a danger we have always been worried that people could promise other things to get them to vote for them and this is the danger of secret balloting…”
Chanderpal said this view by the President is an “insult to the large majority of the Central Committee of the PPP in terms of what would influence the way in which they would vote in order to choose the Presidential candidate for the PPP/C.” He added that to claim that a member of the Party’s Central Committee would be swayed by a promise of a position in the future administration is a “double tragedy of poor knowledge and poor logic.”
Chanderpal’s letter is the latest in an increasingly acrimonious divide between President Jagdeo and several longstanding members of the party over the process to select the next presidential candidate and other matters.
According to Chanderpal, who served briefly as Minister of Agriculture under Jagdeo but resigned, the statement exhibits “a lack of knowledge, partly excusable by distance from the arena, of the heroic roles of many dynamic fighters who placed their lives on the line even when the only offer of a position was in the jail or in the cemetery.”
He declared that it was also an “upturning of logic” for the President to suggest that someone would be influenced by the offer of a position to reject their own conviction if there was a secret ballot for the next presidential candidate. “Rather would it not be more logical that someone would be reluctant to vote according to their conviction if their choice has to be expressed in full view of a power house who has deliberately demonstrated undisguised pleasure in swinging the axe against those who are considered to be defiant?” Power house appears to be a direct reference to Jagdeo. The latter had ended Chanderpal’s stint in 2009 as science and environment advisor to the president.
“The issue of the secret ballot arises only if there is the need for a vote to be taken. As such, there is no precedence of any vote having to be taken in order to choose the Presidential Candidate for the PPP or the PPP/Civic”, Chanderpal declared.
He said in 1980, 1985 and 1992, it was Cheddi Jagan unopposed. In 2001 and 2006, it was Bharrat Jagdeo unopposed. In 1997, he said it is true that more than one name was suggested. “But this was done in the context of varying tactical considerations. It was eventually resolved by a unanimous acceptance of a novel arrangement. No vote was required.
So there is no history of a previous contest for the position of Presidential Candidate that required a vote to be taken.”
Chanderpal argued that what any organisation would prefer is a situation where the candidate for any major position can be chosen through a process of thorough evaluation of the various options and a unanimous identification of the best option with the others voluntarily withdrawing.
“This is what has happened before for the PPP/C and obviously would be the preferred way forward”, Chanderpal said.
If it reaches the stage where there is no unanimous choice then the method can be nothing but a secret ballot. “A voter has the right to secrecy. It is not a privilege but a right”, Chanderpal contended.
Chanderpal further argued that the press conference was also the forum for an attack on those the President considers to be supportive of a candidate other than his choice. He quoted the president as saying “Now, some people, I think they do the mathematics and they see the odds may not be in their favour so they are arguing for a new process and I suspect that if you have the new process and they lose there again they would find some other reason, the Corbin syndrome…”
This was Chanderpal’s rejoinder “How familiar. When national elections were rigged from 1968 to 1985, the riggers used to create the impression before the elections that the PPP was heading for a massive defeat and accused the PPP of inventing excuses upfront. History has recorded that when the secret ballot was fortified in 1992 by the long-denied-finally-conceded counting of the votes at the place of poll, the results were a true reflection of the will of the people and proved that the `excuses’ attributed to the PPP were indeed valid concerns.”
The method for the selection of the next presidential candidate is shaping up to be a major battle within the party and a metaphor for the differences between the two camps. Observers see Jagdeo as being solidly behind party general secretary Donald Ramotar or a last-minute candidate like Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud. Chanderpal and others are seen to be favouring House Speaker Ralph Ramkarran. In recent weeks, Ramkarran has argued that once there are several candidates for the position the only way in which the final decision can be made is by secret ballot. Ramotar and Jagdeo have since come out in favour of an open vote.
