THE elections having been called by President Ali have triggered a series of statutory events that, ceteris paribus, are irreversible.
As such, September 1, 2025 is Election Day, like it or not. The inevitability of this date has placed the Opposition in a loathsome disposition, and it must have dawned on them that they have no choice but to step up to the plate.

But instead of shaking off the dross and mounting a political hurrah, the Opposition has chosen to complain about the date, via the three opposition-nominated GECOM commissioners. They now claim that GECOM is not ready and cannot deliver successful elections in about 100 days.
GECOM not ready? Really???

Essentially, the Opposition consists of two segments: the main Opposition that is, the PNC and AFC and the “others.” The main Opposition appears uncoordinated, politically illogical, jejune, and frankly, desperate.
The PNC knows it has never won an election when contesting alone and under its own name. Contesting an election alone is merely a matter of how much resilience it can show and how can it maximise electoral returns within its limitations.

The limitations faced by the PNC is one that they have conscientiously cultivated over time—they have boxed themselves into an ethnic cul-de-sac.
I do not see the PNC making a deliberate or strategic play for Indo-Guyanese votes. They have always organised campaigns around Afro dominated communities and protect that turf strenuously.
It seems that they have given up hope that Indo-Guyanese will ever support the PNC, in any significant way.

So, over time they have come to depend on three realities; one, the ostensible declining Indo-Guyanese population; two, pursue coalition with forces that have a significant Indo support base; three, hope for the prodigious rise of a charismatic personality to split the Indo-Guyanese vote—leaving the PNC with the plurality drawn primarily from its Afro base.
These are points of desperation for the PNC.

It seems they are population-watching so that they can determine their own level of confidence. That is why they are so preoccupied by what the 2022 census may or may not show.
And further, they express an overt aversive phobia for every Venezuelan seeking refuge here. They are mortified that the few who can claim citizenship by ancestry and others by marriage, will be turned into PPP voters and cancel out the lost from Indo-migration.

This has led to spurious claims that the government is issuing ID cards to ineligible Venezuelans in exchange for their votes.
The PNC is playing the long game, consolidate the Afro-Guyanese vote by appealing to race, and wait out the declining Indo population.
In another two election cycles, going forward, they could win naturally based on the estimated changes in the demographic structure of the country. So, they see Venezuelan migration as potentially disruptive to this long game.

This strategy has one major Faultline that makes it electorally precarious. The PPP is making a concerted and unrelenting move to wrest the very Afro-political enclaves the PNC wishes to protect.
The cracks are not only beginning to show—they are showing signs of developing craters, as Afro-Guyanese in small but steady streams are openly supporting the PPP.

Panic is setting in, that is why the PNC has shown an affinity for the rabid racialised politics being practised by known political protagonists.
PNC is further doubling down on this pathway because it knows that the AFC has lost its appeal to Indo-Guyanese. Therefore, any coalition with the AFC will be to hold the small but formidable middle-class and keep the very Afro enclaves from fragmenting further.

Because of this, the PNC will see no reason to give up the presidential candidature because they know that with or without a PNC/AFC coalition, winning is a long shot.
So, both the AFC and the PNC are hoping that Azruddin Mohamed is that knight in shining armour that will struth his style, wrest Indo-voters from the PPP and either create an outright win for them or at the very least a minority government.

My own prediction is that if ‘Team Mohameds’ campaign machinery shows any sign of robustness, the AFC and PNC will rush into a coalition. They will do this for two reasons to combine forces to stave off further decline in their Afro voting stock and to attempt to take advantage of any possibility of splitting the Indo-Guyanese vote.
The second segment of the opposition, the “and others” will not make any dent on the ballot box including ‘Team Mohameds.’

They are simply democracy’s decorations and affirmations—that any Guyanese has a constitutional right to run for president, “they also ran” into the footnotes of Guyanese electoral history.
The lack of success of the “other parties” will line up to gnaw at the PNC core support base and will render their strategy even more stupendously ill- fated.
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.