Dear Editor,
This is a whistle-stop tour of how things look for the competitive parties for the elections on September 1, 2025. Let’s do it in alphabetical order.
The AFC is basically finished. It has been wracked by an ongoing exit of top party personalities and by poor to non-existent leadership. The AFC is barely visible in this election cycle.
The APNU will likely hold on to that part of its base that is over 50 and those die-hard David Hinds ideological types. The former will vote based on family loyalty; the latter based on radical ethnic chauvinism. Please see Hinds’ social media posts.
The APNU has been hobbled by a mass exodus of top leaders and activists and is at its weakest point in history. If LFS Burnham were alive, he would probably disapprove of Norton.
The PPP/C is in a commanding position. If crowd size is a reliable indicator, then the PPP/C will crush the opposition. Beyond crowd size, the PPP/C has a strong record of promises made and promises kept. It also has tested leadership in Ali, Phillips, and Jagdeo. $200,000 to school children, $60,000 to pensioners, free UG education, interest-free loans for small businesses, and other proposed measures are bound to find favour with voters. More than anything else, the PPP/C has an “army” of activists, who, of their own free will, are maintaining the party’s momentum. This bodes well for massive voter turnout on E-Day.
The WIN party is obviously in trouble because of its compromised leadership. It is doing okay for a “flare-up” party, but we have to wait and see if those blue shirts will actually go to the polls. The WIN coastal demographics have a lower marginal propensity to show up at the polls on E-Day. In the interior regions, the WIN might not be the last visitor. Further, now that vote-buying is harder because of the new GECOM phone rule in the polling booth, WIN will likely lose the ‘scrape votes’.
The other two parties are basically irrelevant because the AFC might be the force for any “remainder” seat. Amanza Desir’s fall is of historic proportions.
All told, the AFC is basically finished; APNU will make no gains; the PPP/C is gaining momentum with lots of crossovers in its corner; and the WIN is hobbled by a sanctioned candidate. It has no PM candidate to date, a sign that top participants are afraid of being implicated.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Randy Persaud
