One of the most important elements of a properly functioning democratic state is regular personnel turnover, so when a political leader tells you, as Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo did a few days ago, that his party intends to win the next elections and stay in government for 30 to 40 years, you know that you are not living in a properly functioning democratic state, the person or persons making such statements are democratically suspect and from them you must expect government policies intended to keep their government in place for that length of time. Furthermore, whether he wishes to accept it or not, Mr. Jagdeo is the leader of a political party that receives the vast majority of its votes from those of Indian ethnicity, who are about 50% of the population, and as such, to all intents and purposes, the PPP is viewed by the other half of the population as an Indian-orientated party. Particularly given the PPP’s recent record, when Mr. Jagdeo makes these promises he is simply saying to the other half of the country that an Indian-dominated political party intends to control the political space and them for over a generation!
