Dear Editor,
I saw a photo of the PPP picketing the High Court in Stabroek News of August 24, demanding the expedition of the elections petition, because they claimed the poll was fraudulent and they won the elections. I can remember Mr Jagdeo openly admitting that the PPP lost the 2015 elections because the organizers did not do their groundwork and some ministers of the Donald Ramotar minority government weren’t delivering the goods to the people.
The PPP should accept that they lost the elections in a fair race between APNU+AFC because it has taken for granted that no matter what they do to Indians will vote for them, but they were wrong. People, especially the young voters, tend to move away from a party if they are not treated fairly and with respect. This can happen to APNU+AFC if they operate like the PPP; corruption was the key focus on the campaign trail by the coalition at every meeting and rally that I attended. It sent the crowd into frenzy.
There is no doubt in my mind that the elections were free and fair and just like when a cricket team loses a match they will cry foul and say the umpire gave them bad decisions.
The PPP had pinned their hopes on assumptions about a drop in the Afro votes mainly due to the problems within the PNC arm in APNU, and a loss of cross-over AFC votes because of a coalition with APNU. It was evident that going into the elections with Donald Ramotar for a second term was the PPP’s fatal mistake; he was all times unpopular within the rank and file of the party. To be honest I like him, but he was never a suitable candidate or presidential material. The 2011 elections results had showed that Donald Ramotar barely scraped home with the winner takes all system.
Now having being defeated, it seems the PPP has a fallback plan in the form of discrediting the conduct and the results of the 2015 elections. Some hostile PPP media were key players in recklessly portraying the elections as having been rigged and the PPP as having won. Many people still actually believe the continued media lies.
Reports from the Commonwealth, OAS and IFES international observer groups testified to the fairness of the polls, and messages from the US, UK and Canadian ambassadors and high commissioners and other governments deemed the elections free and fair. If the PPP wants to win another election in Guyana, they have to regroup and give the youths a chance, and it must be those who were not tainted with corruption and who can appeal to all cross-sections of the political divide. Using the race card is not the answer to win an election; people do not forget easily who was marginalized for 23 years.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
