THE UNC of opposition leader Kamla Bissessar, before the April 2025 election, had 19 seats. The UNC won the April election by increasing it seats by seven.
Trinidad and Tobago has a similar racial make-up to us with both major parties having numerically more supporters of a certain ethnic make-up – UNC, mostly Indians; PNM, mostly Africans.
By winning seven more seats, the UNC has taken votes from African dominated constituencies that were held by the PNM. What the 2025 contest in Trinidad has shown is that the world is changing; people no longer are tied to traditional values.
In the United States, African-Americans did not flock to Kamala Harris the way she and Barack Obama thought they would. Three million voters did not vote in the last US presidential election than the previous one in which Mr. Biden won.
In Guyana, the signs of a changing world are more pronounced than in most countries, part of which is due to the very young population we have. The Guyana that was once Burnham versus Jagan may be gone forever.
A majority of voters in Guyana will not vote based on memories of Jagan and Burnham because they have no such memories.
Elections in 2025 will be a different ball game from those gone by. I have read some comments in the newspapers in which some people have warned the PPP to look and see what happened in Trinidad and how voters changed the government. If I was advising the PPP, I will tell them to ignore such insipid analysis.
The UNC won in Trinidad for one major reason only though I concede that there were other factors. The opposition had credible leaders who behaved respectfully and during their time in opposition they earned the admiration of voters who had questions about the ruling PMN.
The UNC would have lost if it had behaved like the PNC and AFC in Guyana. For its time in the opposition, the UNC did not cuss down Black Trinidadians; it did not use racial narratives in and out of Parliament; it did not encourage its supporters to employ violence to oppose the Rowley Government; it did not come across as a party that cannot be trusted.
Can the PPP lose the election? On the contrary, Irfaan Ali is poised to do a Kamla Bissesar in Guyana. Ali needs 10 more seats for a two/thirds majority.
In Trinidad, Kamala got seven more seats, all being from constituencies that had African majority voters. It is plausible to argue that with a popular president, an oil economy and a young generation not hooked on race, Dr. Ali could get those 10 more seats.
There is the possibility he can get it because each day that passes in this country, the main opposition party, the PNC appears unsuited to lead this oil-rich country into the future. Africans in Trinidad did not fear Bissessar coming into power. Indians in Guyana fear a government under the PNC because the PNC has shown no inclination to become a multi-racial outfit.
As I write this column on Saturday (yesterday) morning, there is a letter by a PNC person who holds membership in the PNC- former Mayor of Georgetown, Ubraj Narine. I quote him on the pain he feels about the way the PNC treated one of its great icons, an Indian woman, Amna Ally: “I am hurt at how the party treated her even in death…the PNC I knew was never in the tragic state it finds itself in today.”
It is not that the PNC is losing party leaders with increasing frequency; it is hemorrhaging Indian leaders too. I was on the seawall with my dog and I ran in to my former student, Geeta Chandan, two weeks ago. I am not at liberty to divulge our conversation but Narine is on the spot with his remarks.
There are no small parties that can make any dent into the election results this year. The AFC and the Asha Kissoon controversy have turned people off when it comes to small parties or third parties. As for the AFC, Mr. Nigel Hughes and Mr. Terrence Campbell have gone into self-destruct mode.
Hughes told this nation that the mayhem that followed the post-mortem results of Adriana Younge was due to the PPP putting agent provocateurs to create the violence instead of apologising as a leader to win over hearts and minds.
His AFC colleague, Terrence Campbell was more unapologetic. He urged Guyanese to understand the economic plight of the people who looted robbed and burned. Can such people win an election? The answer is no. Irfaan Ali will be re-elected by a wide margin.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.