Dear Editor,
The winner of the convoluted vote count and parliamentary seat allocation system in Guyana allows for the party with the most votes across the country to control the Presidency, the Ministries and other Government Agencies.
In Guyana it does not matter much that fifty two percent of the eligible voters reside in three of Guyana’s ten Regions, these Regions being Regions Four, Seven and Ten. This fact is largely ignored for the purposes of allocating parliamentary seats and electing the president; quite unlike the reality in the United States (U.S.) where fifty three percent of the electorate reside in California, Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, and North Carolina; and the determination of congressional seats and presidential electors are done on the basis of the state’s population in deciding the President and the selection of the Executive.
In the U.S. if a party only wins the aforementioned ten states or that particular twenty percent of the fifty states, the party would control the Presidency and the Executive in the U.S. as the party would have won fifty three percent of the electorate under the U.S. winner-take-all system.
However, in Guyana a party winning Regions that comprise over fifty two percent of the eligible electorate is denied the Presidency and has no say in the appointment and make up of the Executive. If we apply a similar rationale to Guyana as that which exists in the General
Elections of the United States for election of the President and the selection of the Executive; we can extrapolate the regional results in Guyana to conclude who the Guyana President would be and which party candidates would dominate the executive branch of government. Herein we
would have a result that would be identical to the bastion of democracy called The United States of America.
Using the United States as our benchmark to guide us with their winner-take-all system; Brigadier David Granger would have been the President of Guyana based on the voting results re
leased by our performance challenged Guyana Elections Commissions.
It is time for the absolute disarray of what passes for National Elections in Guyana to end.
A synopsis of the results published by GECOM for the November 28, 2011 election is shown below and indicates that under U.S. Election guidelines the APNU Presidential Candidate would have won the Presidency and selected the Executive:
APNU 34
AFC 1
PPP/C 30
65 Seats
Let us not get into a quagmire by referencing the Westminster system and the country led by an unelected Queen when considering the election system described above.
Yours faithfully,
Nigel Hinds
Nigel Hinds & Associates Financial Services