PPP to elect new leadership in May – GS

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has decided that its highly-anticipated Delegates’ Congress will be held in the first week of May.
PPP’s General Secretary, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo made the announcement on Thursday at Freedom House. The party’s Executive Committee would have met last Saturday to finalise a date for the Congress, which was last held in 2016.
Jagdeo also weighed in on his future as General Secretary of the party, as he disclosed, “it would be presumptuous of me to say I will continue as general secretary. I’ll decide whether I’ll contest but right now, I am general secretary until those elections are held.”
At the Delegates’ Congress, the PPP is expected to elect a new 32-member Central Committee as party members – both local and from the diaspora – to discuss critical issues within the party as well as in the country.
The PPP, led by President Dr Irfaan Ali, returned to office in August 2020 after losing the 2015 elections to the then A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition.
According to the party’s constitution, the Delegates’ Congress is due every three years. PPP’s last congress was held in December 2016 on the Essequibo Coast in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam).
Last year, Jagdeo had explained that the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the contributing factors to the delays in hosting the party’s congress.
The 2016 Delegates’ Congress was a major one for the party, during which there was an in-depth analysis of the results of the 2015 elections. Held under the theme “Strengthen the Party, Defend Democracy, Onward to Victory”, the PPP had said it was one of the largest in terms of the participation of delegates and observers.
One of the highlights of the Congress was the presentation of the Central Committee Report, which formed the basis for spirited and robust discussions at the several workshops. The main issues and recommendations from the workshops were presented to the plenary sessions for further deliberations, adoption and implementation.
The party had said that the discussions both at the plenary and workshop levels centred on strengthening the party politically and organisationally in order to win the next General and Regional Elections with an overwhelming majority. And this was achieved when the Party won the presidency with a commanding 233,336 votes, a remarkable lead of 15,416 over its nearest political rival, the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) at the 2020 polls.