Dear Editor,
Within the next twelve months President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo will have to announce the next national elections date. This simply means that aspiring eligible political parties must now begin to put their houses in order.
The Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom) together with existing political parties have failed hopelessly to raise the consciousness of eligible voters regarding the need to be registered. The methods of voter registration were very cumbersome and as a result a number of people have not yet been registered.
When one looks at the dozens of housing schemes being created and occupied across Guyana, from a layman’s point of view our present population could exceed eight hundred and fifty thousand, minus those who have migrated.
In the 2006 elections we had a total of 492,369 registered electors of which 341,426 persons cast their votes. The one hundred and fifty-one thousand who did not cast their votes caused the ups and downs of the political parties in relation to seats in Parliament. This phenomenon caused some parties to get fewer votes in relation to what they got in the 2001 elections, but to receive more seats in parliament and some RDCs.
In the 2006 national elections 19,500 registered electors in Region Three did not vote, while in Region Two, 8,000 did not vote. While the Elections Commission has a well-paid staff in all the ten regions, including well-paid party representatives, it was surprising to hear from Gecom that over 90,000 persons have not uplift their ID cards to date.
A random survey in Region Two would give us an estimate of 9,000 unregistered electors. This appalling situation of an election without voters could invite the need to postpone the national elections and extend the life of the parliament for two years, as was done in 1990 when the election was scheduled then.
I have been in this business since 1957, and as such I would sincerely invite all those letter writers, presidential hopefuls and mature political leaders to come down to mother earth and get their campaigns going.
Organising voters cannot be done by remote control; they should spread out in every region, every village, every street, and every house and recite their manifestos. This is how we did it from the ’70s till 1992, not excluding the support of the Catholic Standard, the Stabroek News, the WPA and the Carter Center, the efforts of all of which culminated in a democratic election in 1992.
There is much good to speak of and achievements by PPP/Civic government, and for those who are not eternally biased, there are many positive projects and legislation, just as the PNC was responsible for the 1980 Constitution during their term in office.
Finally, even though we subscribe to a multi-party system in Guyana, let us not confuse the already confused electorate by encouraging the spontaneous popping up of overnight political parties. Let us take the PPP, the PNC, the AFC, the WPA and ROAR into the historical political race. The Marxist concept of ‘negation of the negation’ has not passed the PPP or the PNC by; we must come with new flowers. The WPA has invisible support; they must mobilise their constituency, they are no strangers to parliament. Ravi Dev’s ROAR has had a following since the 2001 elections; the party was identified in the parliament and RDCs.
Let us all put the best slates of candidates for the electoral preview and help guide a process that can bring political salvation to our motherland.
Yours faithfully,
Isahak Basir
