PPP distances self from online poll for presidential candidate

As Guyanese gear up to head to elections before 2020, an online poll has surfaced on social media allowing users to select their choice for the presidential candidate for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
However, the Party’s executives have dismissed this latest development even questioning whether or not it could be mischievous in nature. This comes with the recent passage of an Opposition-filed no-confidence motion, which meant that the PPP had to fast track its selection process for a presidential candidate since elections will have to be called in 90 days as mandated by the Constitution of Guyana.
As the PPP’s Executive Committee of 35 members selects one eligible leader, the poll attributed to ‘Guyana Independent Voices’ appeared, but the PPP’s Executive Secretary, Zulfikar Mustapha told Guyana Times on Monday that his party has not signed off on any poll.

“The Party has not put out any poll and has not sanctioned any poll … that will not influence the Party,” Mustapha asserted.
The poll included the pictures and names of proposed front-runners such as former Housing Minister Irfaan Ali, former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, Dr Vindyha Persaud, Dr Frank Anthony and Opposition Chief Whip Gail Teixeira. Now that one week has passed since the selection process for a new candidate started, Mustapha advised that the poll would not affect the overall process that the Party has to follow.
“How that will influence anything in the process? We have an established process that started in 2011 and that is what we will follow all the time and we didn’t have a poll in 2011, and I don’t know who put up that poll – if it’s anybody who wants to create mischief, or they want to fragment candidates and leaders in the Party,” he stated.
Mustapha insisted that there was no fragmentation within the PPP’s top ranks.