October 5 will forever be remembered in the history of Guyana as the date when a short-lived democracy was restored. Our freedom was obtained on May 26, 1966. The period of formal democracy lasted from 1966 until 1968 when it was crushed by rigged elections.
The rigging of the 1968, 1973, 1980 and 1985 elections have been fully documented elsewhere. But the entire gamut of manipulative techniques was employed. Laws were passed that removed all but the formal powers of the Elections Commission and handed over the management of the elections to the Chief Elections Office. The free press was destroyed and Parliament unrepresentative. But opposition to the rigging of elections never subsided.
A national struggle took place towards the end of the 1970s against the referendum to remove the requirement for a referendum to amend the constitution. This triggered substantial political and civic unity. The referendum turned out to be massively rigged with only 15 per cent of the electorate voting. The unity forged in this period was sustained until the restoration of free and fair elections in 1992.
The loss of Walter Rodney, the
