THE PPP/C administration is committed to the strengthening of democracy in Guyana, especially in the light of yet another attempt, this time by the APNU+AFC administration, to rig the March 2020 General and Regional elections.

The PPP had always been the victim of rigged elections dating back since 1968 when the PNC regime took control of the entire elections machinery and returned itself to power by way of massive electoral fraud. All subsequent elections until October 1992 were blatantly and massively rigged by the PNC regime.

The PNC has no moral right to speak about attempts to manipulate the voter’s list to give the ruling PPP/C an electoral advantage as is being suggested by the opposition party. It was the PPP that played the lead role in the struggle for democratic rule in Guyana after it was taken away from the Guyanese people by the PNC administration which rigged its way to power for close to three decades until democracy was eventually returned to the country, thanks to the generous support of the United States and the Carter Center.

The story of the ‘dead’ voting in elections and ‘horses’ on overseas voters list is still fresh in the minds of Guyanese. Such episodes were well documented by Granada Television in two documentary films ‘The Making of a Prime Minister’ and ‘Burnham has done it again’. It is a shameful past which, as a country, we must never return.

At a recent meeting between Vice-President and Leader of the PPP, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo and United States Deputy Assistant Secretary for Caribbean Affairs and Haiti, Barbara Feinstein, the issue of the consolidation of democracy was discussed.

According to Dr. Jagdeo, “This is not an alien value to the PPP. We have, consistently from the beginning of the party, fought for and defended democracy. I pointed out the track-record of the PNC on this matter. I pointed out that from the period in 1964 to 1992, they stayed in office through rigged elections and that the United States did not have to take my word for it, they can find evidence of this in many reports issued by US successive governments.”

The United States has played a major role in the return of democracy to Guyana. Indeed, were it not for the physical presence of former President Jimmy Carter in the country on October 5, 1992, the outcome of that elections could likely have been different as the PNC under Desmond Hoyte was intent to once again return itself to power through undemocratic means as it did in all elections since 1968.

It is a fact that the PNC, along with its junior partner, the United Force, was catapulted to office in the 1964 elections with the support of the United States and Britain under the mistaken perception that the PPP administration was going to take the country along a ‘communist’ path to development. As it turned out, the PNC regime not only destroyed the democratic fabric of the country but it took a strong anti-American posture to a point where diplomatic relations between Guyana and the US were ruptured in 1976.

One would have thought that the PNC would have learnt from the mistakes of the past, namely that it is not possible to obtain power through undemocratic means given the fact that the norms of democratic rule has become much more entrenched today than it was during the days of the Cold War. Today, the entire Caribbean has governments that are elected to office in free and fair elections.

Yet, in full view of the Guyanese people and representatives of the world community, the APNU+AFC unashamedly attempted to steal the last General and Regional elections. Thankfully that attempt was thwarted with the support of the United States and other democratic nations. The US has been especially instrumental in putting pressure on Granger to ‘step aside’ and make way for the democratic will of the Guyanese electorate to prevail.

For the PNC and its leader to attempt to project an image as a party that is concerned about the holding of free and fair elections is not only hypocritical but a clear attempt to mislead the Guyanese people and the international community which saw first-hand the undemocratic nature of the APNU+AFC Coalition.

The PPP/C administration, for its part, is doing its best to institutionalise democracy in the country by way of proposed amendments to the electoral laws to make it difficult to rig elections and to impose greater penalties to those who may be so inclined. Interestingly, the main opposition party is still to respond to the request for proposals for amendments to the current electoral laws for reasons best known to itself.

Action, it is said, speaks louder than words and the PNC leader has some explaining to do on his party’s reticence on the issue of electoral reforms to enhance electoral transparency and accountability to the Guyanese electorate.