Dear Editor,
January 1, 2023 marked the 73rd anniversary since the founding of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP). This makes the PPP the oldest and largest multi-racial party with significant support from all ethnicities and religious persuasions.
Because of our changing demographics, no political party can win an election based only on ethnic support. This is why it is so important for political parties to seek to win cross-over votes in order to obtain executive power.
An examination of voting trends will show that the PPP, more than any other political party, has been able to win a larger share of cross-over votes and hence being successful in forming the government. For example, the PPP has been in power cumulatively for more than thirty-two years and thirty-five years on completion of its current term in office. The PNC in comparison, has cumulatively been in power for thirty-three years out of which twenty-four years were obtained on the basis of fraudulent elections. It is public knowledge that all elections from 1968 to 1992 were blatantly rigged by the PNC to perpetuate its rule until October 1992 when the then President Desmond Hoyte buckled under local and international pressure and agreed, albeit reluctantly, to the holding of free and fair elections.
It is to the credit of the leadership and membership of the PPP that it has been able to win democratic elections for such a sustained period despite the several attempts to divide the party along ethnic and ideological lines. The PPP was split in 1955 after Forbes Burnham unsuccessfully attempted to take over the leadership of the party. This regrettably has left a deep scar on the body-politic. In all of this, the PPP continues to enjoy significant multi-ethnic support both at the grassroots and at the leadership level. Indeed the PPP is today the largest multi-racial party in Guyana.
The fact is that from the time of its formation the PPP has always embraced a people-oriented approach to development which transcended the narrow confines of race, religion or creed. In other words, the party’s appeal has been generally universalistic and has always embraced a governance paradigm that is participatory and inclusive.
Times have changed and the dialectics of our time require a politics of accommodation and inclusion of all individuals and groups that are willing to contribute to national development. There is no better time than now when the country is on the cusp of exciting and monumental transformation. Even though the PPP can win and had in the past won elections on its own, the Party had opted to become part of a civic alliance which has now become an integral part of the governance process.
Yours faithfully,
Hydar Ally
