Dear Editor,
I have been following with interest the exchange of views on the issue of alliance politics. There is a widely held view that Burnham, especially during the latter period of his rule, was inclined to enter into a coalition government with the PPP. His death in August 1985 put paid to any such speculation.
What was quite obvious was that Desmond Hoyte who succeeded him as executive President was not in favour of any alliance with the PPP and opted instead to seek Western support for his economic recovery programme which was premised on a neo-liberal development model of de-regulation, privatization of state enterprises and market reforms.
At the political level, Hoyte refused to engage the PPP in any meaningful political accommodation and instead rigged his way to political power a mere four months after he took over the presidency in August 1985.
It is in this context that the search for a political solution initiated by the PPP began in earnest. This was manifested in the formation of the Patriotic Coalition for Democracy (PCD) which was made up of the PPP, the WPA and the DLM. Earlier attempts to form a national front government failed after Burnham dismissed the PPP as a “minority” party which therefore could not be treated as equals in any power equation.
One difficulty that the PCD faced was who to put up as presidential candidate in national and regional elections which were constitutionally due in 1990. Both the WPA and the DLM objected to Dr Jagan on two grounds, namely that he was ideologically tainted and also because of his ethnicity. There was also lack of consensus on how to apportion cabinet seats with the two smaller parties demanding a disproportionate number of seats should the PCD be successful at the polls.
The PPP for its part made its position clear, that while it did not have any intention to dominate the alliance at the same time it did not wish to be dominated in any political arrangement having regard to the fact that it was the largest political party in the country and could realistically win a free and fair election on its own strength.
Failure to arrive at a political consensus led to the dissolution of the PCD and the eventual formation of the PPP-Civic alliance with Cheddi Jagan as presidential candidate and Samuel Hinds as the prime ministerial candidate.
The elections due in 1990 were delayed by an additional two years to allow for a number of sweeping reforms, the most significant of which was the counting of votes at the place of poll.
By then the winds of change were sweeping throughout the hemisphere and the PPP was no longer viewed as ‘the lesser of two evils’ by the United States and other Western states.
The elections vindicated the positions taken by the PPP regarding its political and popular strength. The party won the elections of October 5 1992 with a comfortable majority. The WPA barely managed to win a seat and the DLM failed to win parliamentary representation.
As for the PPP/Civic alliance, it continued to contest and win parliamentary majorities in all subsequent elections except for November 2011when the combined opposition obtained a one-seat majority.
Yours faithfully,
Hydar Ally
