Dear Editor,
The illustration below, reflects the voting trends in Guyana over the last five election cycles, starting from 1992 when PPP/C won the elections for the first time post independence.
If the trend continues from the 2006 to 2011, the PPP/C will be decimated against a united opposition party. Otherwise, we will likely have another minority government. Under the current Guyana constitution, a minority government is a misnomer, as whichever party controls the executive has limitless powers under our twisted and dictatorial constitution, which can easily undermine the strangled puffing from the majority in the National Assembly.
Observations from the graph include the following:
- Janet Jagan received the highest votes of all the presidential candidates over the five elections, with 220,667 votes in 1997.
- Absolute votes for the PPP/C have been on the decline, starting in 2001, with the average decline exceeding 10% through to the 2011 elections.
- Desmond Hoyte enjoyed increasing absolute numbers from a low of 128,286 in 1992 to 166,090 in 2001; however, this increase did not translate into his party winning the presidency.
- APNU performance in its only appearance in the national elections saw them obtaining 41% of the valid votes cast, taking the partnership within one percentage point of Hoyte’s best showing in 1992 and 2001.
- AFC voter support increased by over 20% from the 2006 to the 2011 national elections, the largest increase for any political party for the 2006 to 2011 period.
Benjamin Disraeli when speaking of his main antagonist during his political career, referred to Gladstone as “A sophisticated rhetorician, inebriated with the exuberance of his own verbosity, and gifted with an egotistical imagination that can at all times command an interminable and inconsistent series of arguments to malign an opponent and glorify himself.”
The quote referenced above may seem out of context in this letter, yet it does accurately reflect in my opinion the political misconduct and meanderings that some of our ministers, senior functionaries and ex-ministers from the governing party exhibit as their standard modus operandi. Hopefully the next election set for May 11, 2015 brings a welcome change from this degenerate display of self-interest.
Yours faithfully,
Nigel Hinds
