AFC has lost its electoral support, influence in coalition – Ramkarran

New possibilities now exist, as Guyana’s political landscape is changing, says former Speaker of the National Assembly, Attorney-at-law Ralph Ramkarran, who, in his most recent Conversation Tree column, noted that there is enough room for a new political party to be established here.
According to him, the mixed middle class is now 19 percent, and it has within it a large contingent which is opposed to the ‘racial politics’ of the two main parties: A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).

It is this group, he said, together with disaffected PPP/C and People’s National Congress (PNC) supporters, which gave the Alliance for Change (AFC) its oxygen. However, the failure of the AFC to bridge the racial gap in politics as promised, or to influence APNU in any way, much less in implementing constitutional reform, has signalled the end of the AFC’s influence in the coalition and its electoral support.
“Guyana now needs a new political party which will seek the support of the groups that the AFC has disappointed. It should have one of two objectives, namely, to win the support of the majority of the electorate; and if not, to bring the support of both of the main political parties to below 50 percent.”
Ramkarran said if such a party gains an absolute majority, it will form a national unity Government. If not, it will never join a Government of either of the main parties, and will provide all the necessary guarantees to the public that it will not do so. “It will, however, give its support to that party which supports constitutional reform to bring about the end of the culture of ethno-political dominance as well as other economic and social policies that have national consensus,” he added.
Further, the former Speaker said developments since the AFC’s abandonment of its agenda of bridging the racial gap has proved that there still exists a critical mass of voters who continue to be motivated by the desire to eradicate from Guyana’s politics the harmful effects of the culture of ethno-political domination. This, he said, could be used as an opportunity for the rise of a new political movement.
While many Guyanese are under the impression that Guyana’s political parties are mainly responsible for promoting the culture of ethnic dominance, and without it Guyana’s politics would not be dominated by race and instability, Ramkarran said he has a different view on that issue.
“Guyana’s main political parties reflect the social, economic and political aspirations of the people of Guyana. The fundamental feature of Guyana which determines these aspirations is its ethnic composition and history. This has been characterized mainly by separate struggles against employers and the colonial state for survival,” he remarked.
An important lesson learnt from this is that whoever controls the state controls the distribution of its limited resources. The struggle for control of the State was a natural outcome of the nature of our main political parties and their fundamental, though unspoken political objective: ethno-political dominance, he added.
The attorney believes that a large section of the Guyanese electorate reflects a desire for ethnic security in their electoral choices. They see policies which are designed to ensure that security by the political party holding office, if they do not support it, as ‘discrimination’ and ‘marginalisation’. When one party loses office and the other succeeds, the cycle is obviously repeated.
“After 60 years of this pattern, aggravated by undemocratic rule, violence, corruption and economic stagnation, it is no surprise that strong and persistent voices have emerged which are opposed to ‘racial voting.’
“Guyana may have seen some temporary alleviation of ‘racial voting,’ but no fundamental departure from its hold on the major part of the electorate, which appears quite comfortable in supporting parties which it believes will protect its ethnic interest,” he further added.
Ramkarran said while there is public discourse in regard to how to fashion a political system that accepts the will of the electorate, whichever political party may win at any one time will have to, at the same time, minimise the impact of the culture of ethno-political dominance.
“There are three problems to resolve; namely, persuading the parties to negotiate an end to the culture of ethno-political dominance; if they refuse, carrying out a political struggle to encourage them to accept such a course; agreeing to the constitutional formulations that will be put into effect.”
At present, both main political parties formally reject the politics of ethno-political dominance, but in practise recognise its importance to their political survival. Ramkarran asserted that most times these same parties pay lip service to constitutional reform, but do nothing about it.
“It appears therefore that for those who believe that the end of the culture of ethno-political dominance is a pre-requisite for Guyana’s progress, then a political struggle would have to be carried out to encourage the political parties to accept such a course,” he added.