Above all  the obligations of a responsible political  opposition party, those  of listening to, and understanding, the concerns of their many constituents and, in the process, channelling same to the appropriate fora for  debate and discussion; and, giving honest leadership, are very pivotal for its raison d’etre,  particularly  since it  is  always the possible, alternate government.
Therefore, it means that its every pronouncement and  action will be examined, and eagerly   awaited, by its  membership, particularly as to guidance and future direction. 
Guyana has had  an election which has produced an historical hung parliament; and, after  all that has been said about such  a  national  reality, it will be  repetitive to elaborate on  the challenges that such a scenario will present,   and the  great responsibilities  that are necessary on the part of both sides of the political aisle. But the latter  prerequisite must be re-emphasised, if only to examine the conduct of one of the political opposition parties, APNU: how honest has the latter been  to its constituents? 
The understanding to this question must be  surveyed briefly against the background of national elections held since 1992.
As is a fact, the PNC/R  component, now part of the APNU coalition,  has  since 1992 been defeated  in all five  of the electoral contests, inclusive of that of  2011; and, a particular, peculiar  constant in the aftermath of four out of those five contests – the exception being that of 2006 – has been for that party  to cruelly play on its  general constituents’ belief that their party had been cheated out of victory, hence the prize of government, by electoral fraud.
Memories,  will recall the  ugly and terrifying street marches that led to violent confrontations and arson, that occurred in the post–poll environment  of  1992, 1997, 2001 particularly,   and almost recently again. 
The  post-November, 2011 poll was no different, when  APNU, inclusive of the PNC/R, resurrected  that dishonest and dangerous spectre of poll  irregularities, that brought hundreds of their supporters to the Square of the Revolution  for many days, with one of these instances culminating in the rubber bullets shooting incident with the Guyana Police Force.
The allegation this time was a somewhat muted one  of rigging, based on this political party’s  reported observation, that the final result did not tally with the figures on their Statements of Poll. This certainly  gave rise to false hopes and expectations of an eventual changing of the official results as  already declared by GECOM.  They even requested  GECOM’s SOPs,  giving further false hopes to  a  generally calm membership. 
Well, as is  now well known, there was no significant finding that would have altered the outcome, as was revealed by APNU’s  Rupert  Roopnarine!
Even though it is every political party’s right to challenge results of national elections wherever these may be held, it must be done in a manner, so as  not to excite unreasonable  expectations  of their many constituents, especially  when no ‘earth shattering’ discoveries   will be made as to statistical evidence. And APNU is seriously guilty of this most dangerous and cruel   political deceit. 
Their main arm, the PNC/R, would have orchestrated such near-destructive strategies in the 1990s leading into the  early 2000s; why did the coalition   leaders  follow this  dishonest  path again? 
Of course, it is their moral duty to explain to their many followers why they lost the vote, but not in a manner that  is grossly dishonest, pregnant with the potential to  threaten the national  peace, as what had started to become a real frightening  possibility again.
Is this the behaviour of a responsible, truthful and honest opposition ?