Guyana’s main political parties will only be interested in constitutional reform to transform our ethno-political system if a sufficiently large portion of the electorate demands it. Consider the following: In free and fair elections, the PPP will obtain either the votes of the majority or of a plurality because the Indian Guyanese population is the largest single block. The PNCR will obtain the second largest number of votes because African Guyanese are the second largest block.
In the normal situation, with constitutional reform and without a coalition in the running, the PPP will win the presidency and the PNCR will win the prime ministership. The AFC, if it contests alone, will not obtain 15 percent of the votes to qualify for a share in the government. With constitutional reform, the PPP will have to share the government and the PNCR will be relegated to a junior partnership. The potential relegation of the PNCR to second place and, in these circumstances, the political demise of the AFC, are the politically opportunistic reasons why the campaign promise of constitutional reform by APNU+AFC is not being kept.
