Dear Editor,
News in that Kaieteur News Director Glenn Lall has entered into the race for the presidency of Guyana, he can be called a third-party force in the presidential race. Now, let us examine the term “third party,” it is the entrance of a person or group of persons in a political race, commonly called a Third-Party Force.
The third-party can be in the form of an independent or a political party operating outside of the usual two main parties in circulation.
This comes as no surprise, as it is no new phenomenon when it comes to Guyana or The Caribbean Landscape, time and time again these third forces will pop up, therefore, we need to take a close evaluation of third parties as it relates to our situation here in Guyana.
Ever since the introduction of adult suffrage here, third parties have always been a force to consider, so let’s begin in the year 1953 when there was the main PPP of Burnham and Jagan. Other parties included The National Democratic Party, The Peoples National Party and other independents. Later at the split between Burnham and Cheddi, there was the inclusion of the PNC, The Guyana United Workers Party (GUMP), United Force (UF) and other independents. In the elections that followed, The PPP came out as the clear winner.
Then, we come to the period when the two parties became a major force in Guyana’s politics, that is The PNC and the PPP, The PNC became the favourite of The British as well as the Americans. Every strategy was put in place to get rid of Cheddi, even to the point where he and his wife were imprisoned, clearly, these moves were meant to forcibly keep him out of power, but Cheddi was still there resolute and determined.
When that strategy didn’t work the two superpowers corralled The PNC and The UF into forming a coalition, thus the 1964 Coalition was formed and the two parties entered into government. That union did not last long as The PNC became the overarching, overbearing bully and dominated the politics by a system of rigging. Their rigging rule came to an end in 1992.
Let us fast forward to the 1990’s to the 2000 Period, with the two major parties drawing their voters mainly from a race base, however, The PPP/C still stood ahead of the pack even though several other third parties were mushrooming all around. By this time The WPA had entered the race with a strong following drawing votes from either of the two main contenders. Rodney was murdered by the rigging dictator and this brought about a downward spiral of the once powerful WPA Third force.
During The 2000s saw a proliferation of third parties namely; ANUG, LJP, Justice for All, and the AFC. Then, there was a grand plan led by The USA to unseat the PPP/C, thus The Alliance for Change was advised to form a coalition with the PNC, this union was called The Coalition. Election 2015 was held under the aegis of an international backing of The Coalition versus the PPP/C being the party to beat. That controversial election saw The Coalition gaining a one seat majority. It also ushered in a PNC dictatorship over the coalition.
This period also saw corruption and incompetence being a hallmark of The PNC Regime again, which finally brought their downfall. Thus, the archetypal PNC did self-destruct.
I must hasten to a conclusion; to be a strong third party you ought to be strong enough to source votes, mere sensational talk would not do it. So, Glenn Lall in his thrust to become president must know where his votes would come from, definitely, he will not gain votes from the Indian segment of the population. Being an Indian himself is not enough for him to win favour in their camp, The Indians have learnt their lesson from the horrible Nagamootoo, Ramjattan Coalition Experiment.
Further, and even more revealing, is the fact that the PPP/C is gaining tremendous strength from The Afro-Guyanese Crossovers, so there you have it the third-party politics in a nutshell.
Respectfully,
Neil Adams
