Dear Editor,
Indira Gandhi said in one of her quotes, “History is the best teacher, who has the worst students”.
In a similar context, I would like to reflect on some past electoral feats of the PNC in order to present my case.
Highlights of the PNC historical accounts on General Elections in Guyana:
1) In 1964 the PNC (with 40 per cent of votes) gained office as a result of a coalition with the UF (12 per cent of votes) at the dictate of the British and American forces. Even though the PPP had the largest bloc of votes (46 per cent) and should have been allowed to choose a coalition partner to form a Government, the western powers prevented such rightful undertaking. PNC never won the 1964 election.
2) The PNC rigged all General Elections from 1968 to 1985 (ie 1968, 1973, 1980 and 1985) including the 1978 so-called referendum and stayed in power for 28 years until 1992.
3) The PNC lost 1992, 1997, 2001, 2006 and 2011 General Elections including the 1994 Local Government Elections even with a total voting participation of 47.91 per cent.
4) In 2011 the PNC/APNU and AFC’s rise to combine parliamentary majority brought in chaos and insanity to the National Assembly with their new dispensation at the forefront. The PNC/APNU and AFC never won 2011 General Elections but operated as if they did with their combined parliamentary majority in the House.
5) In 2015 the PNC/APNU/AFC obtained Government through the auspices of GECOM with a mere 4506 votes or 0.3 per cent lacking a simple majority. The PNC/APNU/AFC’s so-called victory is just a mirage until the PPP 2015 Elections Petition case is settled in the court. Apart from the notorious fake SoPs, there is more than sufficient rejected ballots to be deemed valid in favour of the PPP, which would show that the PPP indeed and in fact won the 2015 General Elections.
6) PNC/APNU/AFC lost both 2016 and 2018 Local Government Elections to the PPP. (Even with their gerrymandering of constituents as a means of rigging mechanism to give them an unfair advantage over the PPP)
As matters stand; what can the PNC/APNU learn from the foregoing? A simple answer: The PNC never won an election in Guyana and will never win one under a free, fair and credible electoral process. And, of course, the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections is no exception to the PNC’s list of lost elections.
Sincerely yours,
Paul Ramrattan
