Editorial

Just a few years ago, even the shrewdest bookmaker would have offered long odds against Ireland becoming the first national electorate to formally approve of same-sex marriage — previous countries have introduced it by parliamentary fiat.

During their almost 23 years in office, it was a perennial gripe of the PPP/C administration that they were being criticised for things that had passed without comment during the ‘dark days’ of the PNC, under both Mr Forbes Burnham and Mr Desmond Hoyte.

There has been an election, swearing-in and inauguration and now that the dust has more or less settled, one imagines that the servants of the people are getting down to doing the jobs they would have campaigned hard for.

With the recently held general elections in Britain now over, indicating what is held to be reasonably strong sentiment in favour of a changing of the relationship between that country and the European (EU) Union, the re-elected Conservative government has accepted the challenge of a referendum for the electorate to decide on proposals for a revised relationship.

Having experienced over half a century with just a single previous instance of substantive change in the political order we find ourselves in the throes of an unaccustomed newness.

As was said in the May 17th Sunday Stabroek editorial, it is high time for former President Ramotar and his associates to put country before party.

Normally new governments get a certain honeymoon period where early blunders are either overlooked or given an easy ride; however, the current administration may not be so fortunate.

On June 6, when Barcelona face Juventus in the UEFA Champions league final in Berlin’s Olympiastadion, millions of fans around the world will gather to watch the match in communal settings like pubs and sports bars.

As the dust settles following the May 11 elections and their tension-filled aftermath, a few ironic comparisons with 1992 have not gone unnoticed.

1992 saw the return of free and fair elections to Guyana.

In just under two months after the Israeli general elections were held, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu whose Likud Party party won the largest number of seats – 30, in the country’s 120-seat parliament − has been able to able to cobble together a bare majority of 61 seats to retain leadership of the Government of Israel.

In defeat the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) could have asked for no better opportunity to depart the political centre stage on a dignified note, to make itself an integral part of the start of a process designed to help repair a political landscape blighted by an unending power struggle.

Congratulations are in order for President Granger and the APNU+AFC coalition on their electoral victory.

What happened prior to the official declaration of results yesterday was both unnecessary as well as undignified.

Even when there are peaceful political transitions, many societies take years to absorb the complex aftermath of elections that displace longstanding governments.

The country has spent the best part of this week waiting to exhale, with rising tensions and most of the citizenry fit to burst, not to mention the stress placed on children taking CXC papers (and their parents), and the general loss of productivity suffered by the nation.

On Monday of this week, Guyana voted in general and regional elections that were the culmination of a series of unfortunate events: secret deals made by the government, deadlock on issues in Parliament, a proposed motion of no-confidence and the proroguing of Parliament being chief among them.

The British elections having resulted in a fairly decisive victory for the Conservative Party, the country’s neighbours and partners in the European Union will now be bracing themselves for the referendum on the country’s membership, promised by Prime Minister David Cameron.

The period immediately preceding yesterday’s general election was marked by a surfeit of incidents of violent crime.

Today, we repeat some of the appeals we have made at previous general elections.