GENERAL and Regional elections are just around the corner. As is customary, political parties will try to outdo each other as to which from among them deserve to occupy the seat of government in the elections of November 28, 2011. This is a season of the year in our political calendar when everything will be given a political twist to make one or the other political parties look good or bad depending on which side one stands on the political divide. In the final analysis, however, it is the electorate who will have the final say on which from among the political parties will be given the mandate to lead this nation for the next five years.
This democratic right to choose a government of one’s choice which we take for granted today did not come about without a long and hard struggle waged by the People’s Progressive Party during the early 1950s.
Before 1950, only the propertied class and those with money and influence were allowed to vote, which effectively shut out the vast majority of the Guyanese people from being allowed to have a say in the determination of the political life of the society.
All of this changed in the elections of 1953 when, for the first time in our political history, the Guyanese people were allowed to vote regardless of income or property qualification.
This was a major advance in the democratic process, thanks mainly to robust representation made by the PPP before the Waddington Constitution Commission, which led to significant constitutional reforms including the introduction of universal adult suffrage and a ministerial system of government.
The PPP, under the leadership of Dr. Cheddi Jagan, won a landslide victory winning 18 out of 24 seats. This was a major victory scored by the PPP for the Guyanese people in particular the working people.
Unfortunately, the PPP administration was overthrown after a mere six months in office out of fear by the imperialist powers that the PPP government was too much to the ‘left’ of the ideological spectrum and was therefore likely to implement measures that were perceived to be detrimental to the planter class and big business.
Fresh elections held in 1957 were again won by the PPP despite attempts by the colonial powers to emasculate the party. In 1955, the PPP was split, a sad blow to  working-class unity which resulted mainly from Forbes Burnhan’s unsuccessful bid to take over the leadership of the PPP from Cheddi Jagan.
The genesis of race-based politics could therefore be traced to Burnham, who allowed himself to be manipulated by foreign vested interests to forestall the rising tide of popular support for independence and national liberation ignited by the PPP.
The aim was to break the indomitable will of the Guyanese people and, at the same time, drive a wedge between the two major ethnic groups in order to divide and rule, a strategy used by the colonial powers to ensure political control and hegemony over the subject populations.
To an extent, the colonial powers, with the active support of the PNC, the United Force and some sections of the labour movement, aided and abetted by the then dominant media, were successful in generating ethnic fears and tension among the two major race groups, the East Indians and the Africans which together accounted for over 80 per cent of the total population.

The tendency to vote race became manifest in the elections of 1961 and 1964, which saw the PPP being removed from office in the elections of 1964 due to a fiddled constitutional arrangement imposed by the British government, which allowed for two or more parties to join forces after the elections and form the government in the event no political party obtained majority support.
The engineered removal of the PPP by the colonial powers,  with the help of local reactionary forces only served to exacerbate ethnic tensions. The situation was made worse by the blatant rigging of elections by the PNC after the kicking out of its junior coalition partner, the United Force, in 1967, just a year ahead of the 1968 elections which were massively rigged by the PNC to perpetuate its hold on power.
It took 28 years of bitter struggle led by the PPP for a return to democracy, during which time the country was reduced to the poorest country in this hemisphere. All ethnic groups suffered from a wrecked and shrinking economy.

It is my submission that we are beginning to see a re-kindling of the spirit of the 1950s when economic and social issues took precedence over ethnic loyalties. Already, there are strong indications of a shift in voting behaviour among Amerindians and Afro-Guyanese which in the main were supporters of the United Force and the PNC during the 1960s.
The fact that the PPP/C was successful in winning a majority of the votes in all democratic elections since 1992 is testimony to a new and changing political dispensation in which voting behaviour is much more responsive to institutional, economic and social variables rather than appeals to blind party loyalty.
My own assessment of current trends in voting behaviour is that the PPP/C has been largely successful in breaking the back of race-based politics by its embrace of a politics of inclusion and the even-handed manner in which an increasingly larger national pie is being distributed.
The PPP/C deserves full credit for keeping alive the dreams and aspirations of our foreparents for a peaceful, cohesive and prosperous Guyana where every Guyanese, regardless of race, colour, religion or creed is provided with that opportunity to develop and grow to the full limit of their potential and benefit in equal measure from the collective efforts of the Guyanese people.
A Donald Ramotar-led PPP/C government will ensure a better and secure life for all.