Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to Neil Adams’s letter published in Guyana Times on July 19, 2022. Adams was replying to Dougla when he stated that England introduced the Proportional Representation electoral system in British Guiana because the “framers said (PR) would bring some semblance of calm.”
Editor, there is only one reason why the British implemented PR in Guyana: they wanted to defeat the PPP, because Dr. Jagan was viewed as a Soviet-style communist, and the Kennedy administration did not want a second Cuba in Guyana. So, the US and England conspired to get rid of Dr. Jagan through the PR system. The plan worked; the PR system is based on the percentage of votes, not on the percentage of seats, as in the First Past the Post system.
Under the old electoral system, Jagan would have won a majority of seats, but not a majority of votes. In the 1964 elections, under PR, the PPP received 45.84% of votes, PNC 40.52 and the UF 12.41. The PNC and UF formed a coalition Government, and Jagan and the PPP were defeated.
For more information on the US involvement, visit https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/intelligence/2020-04-06/cia-covert-operations-overthrow-cheddi-jagan-british-guiana-1964.
Sincerely,
Ganesh Harilal
