In commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the PPP, I write about a little known event that formed part of the circumstances that shaped Guyana’s entry into the democratic fold of nations.
Elections were due in Guyana in 1990. As the year opened the PPP leadership continued to search for ways to pressure the government to enact reforms to ensure free and fair elections. The PPP understood that the prospects were dim. Upon assumption of office in 1985, albeit after the worst rigged elections in Guyana’s history, President Hoyte reversed Burnham’s political and economic policies which endeared him to the West and to some in the local business community. Foreign investment flowed into Guyana which recorded significant economic growth. These circumstances did not deter the PPP which had been confronting rigged elections since 1968. One element in that confrontation has always been the utilization of propitious external circumstances to influence the outcome of the internal confrontation.
