Faced with running a minority government for the first time in Guyana’s history, president-elect Donald Ramotar says he is prepared to work with all political parties to take Guyana forward.
In a brief comment to Stabroek News last evening, Ramotar said that he accepted the results and was ready to work towards building Guyana. “I accept the results of the Elections Commission,” he said. Inspite of there being a hung parliament, Ramotar told Stabroek News that he is committed to taking Guyana forward. “I am ready to work to take Guyana forward,” he stressed. Ramotar also told reporters that he was ready to work with the other political parties.
During his presidential campaign, Ramotar had indicated his willingness to listen to the views and ideas of other groups in the hope of building national unity. “We have a country to build and to build it we have to have national unity in Guyana,” adding that the party was founded on the principle of building “one Guyana consciousness”.
Last evening, PPP/C campaign spokesperson Robert Persaud, at a press briefing, indicated that the first step would be to swear in the new president and a cabinet. Ramotar is expected to be sworn in within 36 hours. Saying that a minority government is a “new dispensation”, Persaud said that it will bring about some approaches that at the end of the day must be in the interest of the people of Guyana and continuing progress in Guyana. He declined to say whether the new government would have Cabinet positions filled by opposition members and indicated that only Ramotar could pronounce on this.
Meanwhile, Persaud also said that while the party was happy at securing the presidency it was disappointed at not winning a parliamentary majority. He blamed voter apathy among PPP/C supporters for this saying that many of them did not go out because they felt that the party’s victory was a foregone conclusion.
“The results of the general election 2011 while victorious are indeed a disappointment but they are also a timely reminder to all and sundry of what indifference almost cost you and your country,” Persaud said at a media briefing last evening at Freedom House. He said that the party lost one seat by six votes, which could have assured the party a working majority in the National Assembly. He later indicated to Stabroek News that the party failed to secure both geographical seats in Region One because of the lack of 6 votes.
Persaud said that “the Presidency secured by the PPP/C in the general election of 2011 is an opportunity we must not let slip as we continue to modernize our country and unite the people of Guyana”. “We also wish to once again restate our determination to work tirelessly with each and every single Guyanese to achieve our collective dream of securing a better future for our nation,” he added.
“I think we were struggling against three As in these elections—the APNU, the AFC and Apathy,” Persaud said. Voter apathy, he said, is perhaps a feature of governments that have been in power for a long time.
“Perhaps we have become a victim of our own success. When people become comfortable, when people enjoy prosperity, when people witness progress I think that they less have this hunger, perhaps, to turn out for elections because for them…life has become comfortable and they take things for granted.
Important development
“We respect the results as announced by GECOM,” AFC’s presidential candidate Khemraj Ramjattan told Stabroek News last evening. He said that his party had anticipated a hung parliament and described this as an important development which will bring a new dispensation to our politics. A hung parliament, Ramjattan indicated, could move Guyana forward since all the parties would have to work together.
While saying that the AFC will not be making any “deals” with the PPP/C or the APNU, it will be willing to talk with both parties. “We are keeping with our policy,” Ramjattan said. He added that all the parties would have had programmes in each of their manifestos which they could work together to see to fruition.
The AFC, in a statement last evening, said that it is “pleased and enthused” that Guyana has entered into a new political dispensation following the declaration of results for the General and Regional Elections 2011. “The national political landscape has forever been changed for the better in that the people’s representatives in Parliament must find common ground and work together for the benefit of Guyanese,” the party said.
“The elections outcome as announced by GECOM is historic and one which ought to serve the people of Guyana in a more representative manner, since no one party has a monopoly in Parliament,” the AFC said, adding that the results should engender broader participation of the representatives of the people in Parliament. “This is a win for all Guyana and for all Guyanese,” it said.
“The results have positioned the AFC in a pivotal position in Parliament, saying that it is now truly placed to function as the conscience of the nation. The party also dedicated its victory to the “memory and life’s work” of its late founding member Sheila Holder.
Meanwhile, TUF’s presidential candidate Peter Persaud, when reached for comment, said that he was not surprised at the results, including his party’s poor performance. “Time was not with us,” he said, saying that he party had about two weeks to campaign due to a court matter which involved senior functionaries in the party. He said that the party will have to look forward in terms of doing its own political work.
He congratulated Donald Ramotar on his victory as well as APNU and AFC for securing seats in the National Assembly. Persaud, however, was not happy about the development of a hung parliament, saying that it was not in the best interest of Guyana at this time.
