– but will contest elections separately

THE Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), A New and United Guyana (ANUG) and The New Movement (TNM) have combined their lists of candidates ahead of the upcoming General and Regional Elections, but the parties made it clear that the combination does not mean they formed a coalition.

Leaders of the three parties, which are new to the local political landscape, said they have not formed a coalition and as such, will be contesting the elections individually.
“It is not a coalition, it is collaboration, and in the end everybody retains its individual imagine…we will be campaigning separately and so forth,” said Presidential Candidate of TNM, Dr. Asha Kissoon, during a joint press conference held by the leaders of the political parties at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) on Saturday.

She believes that the combination of lists is more effective than coalescing because it will eradicate “racial barriers,” which have traditionally been associated with voting and elections in Guyana. Through the combination, the parties intend on representing all Guyanese.

The parties cited Section 22 of the Representation of the People Act, which permits two or more lists of candidates to be joined as a combination of lists for the distribution of seats, but not for the purpose of voting.

In explaining the purpose of the combination of lists, Dr. Kissoon said: “We realised we are stronger together than divided…we made a decision to change the political culture in Guyana because it has always been for yourself and best come, best serve… we would like there to be a new culture of togetherness.”

While their intention is to change the political culture, Presidential Candidate of ANUG, Ralph Ramkarran, said the “combination list” cannot “technically” win the elections, but it can get enough votes to give the parties majority of the seats in the National Assembly.
Ramkarran, in explaining the process, said: “those seats will have to be divided up among the three political parties, and unless one of the parties obtains the plurality, that political party will win, the combination cannot win the elections.”

The presidential candidate, who was once a heavyweight in the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), again repeated that the parties did not form a coalition and will go the polls on their own. In this case, people will vote for the party of their choice and the votes will be counted for the party of preference, but at the end of the electoral process, the votes will be combined in accordance with the combination of lists and seats will also be allocated in that regard.

In giving a realistic example, Ramkarran said: “assuming 5,000 votes earn a political party one seat in the National Assembly, if the combination were to get 15,000 votes, then the combination would be entitled to three seats… it is then up to the parities to determine who gets the seats.”

He also believes that the combination of lists will ensure that no vote is wasted because, according to his reasoning: “assuming that once again, if political party A gets 7,500 votes, party B gets 6,500 and C gets 6,000, we have each gotten 5,000 so it will give them three seats and the remaining votes could give them another seat…without a combination, those extra votes would be discarded.”

Ramkarran believes that even one seat is important because in 2011, the then opposition had a one seat majority in the National Assembly and again in 2015 the government had a one seat majority.

“We are at a stage where one seat is of critical importance…that is why the combination is of critical importance…it will create a situation where the two main political parties do not win an absolute majority,” said the presidential candidate.

Presidential Candidate of the LJP, Lennox Shuman, also spoke about the importance of the combination, but noted the parties did not manage to convince Change Guyana and The Citizenship Initiative (TCI) to get involved.

Change Guyana and TCI were also part of the initial discussions about joining the lists, but Shuman said: “discussions broke down at the eleventh hour and they believed we needed a lot more consultations on such an agreement…I think there would have been a missed opportunity.”

Despite those two parties opting out and believing that more time was needed, Shuman said the agreement among the three parties is sound and will withstand legal challenge.