Why PPP candidates are confident in 2018 in these LGEs?

Dear Editor,
The PPP candidates appear confident they’ll they will do even better in 2018 than they did in the 2016 Local Government Elections (LGE) and one A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) big wigs conceded this to me privately. The Alliance For Change (AFC), on the other hand, is expecting a total wipe out.
For example, Georgetown, a People’s National Congress (PNC) stronghold, was won by that party with 83 per cent of the seats in 2016. Today that is expected to fall to about 65 per cent because of their poor performance in City Hall and the press releases from this Kennard Commission of Inquiry into the management of the City.
A few nights ago, no more less than a person than the Prime Minister (an AFC elder) spoke at New Amsterdam and according to a AFC leader who communicated with me, “there were more stray dogs on the streets than human being listening to his message”. This is just but another indication that things really bad for the AFC.
Meanwhile, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) had very successful public meetings in Linden and Bartica; two PNC strongholds. These preliminary indications all point to a stronger PPP showing in all areas across the country. The PPP is running particularly well in the rural districts, where the rural youths and women are eager to send a strong message of dissatisfaction to President Granger for his poor leadership after three years. When the people’s belly “ah bun”, they will react and these LGEs is the perfect chance for them to react. This is having an out-sized impact because in the PNC strongholds, there is “voter stall” with only the die-hards expected to come out, while the PPP is being embraced by the rural independents, women and youths overwhelmingly and are having major inroad in urban centres which are the PNC strongholds.
This situation points to great results for the PPP in these 2018 LGE, average for the APNU (PNC) and a total wipe-out of the AFC.
The PPP candidates are younger, more ethnically diverse, they have proven themselves well trained to hammer the performance of the APNU/AFC Government over the last three years and to dominate the messaging. Plus as a bonus, they are ably supported and led by their party leader Bharrat Jagdeo who has done a fantastic job of reinventing the PPP after May 2015 when that party was on its knees after the Ramotar presidency. Today the PPP is showing signs that it is moving back to basics similar to the electoral machine of 1992. But to date, no one on the political front lines can match the energy level, the message of Jagdeo.
Further complicating the PNC-APNU efforts is that their campaign comes across as disorganised compared to their 2015 campaigns as if there is some sort of infighting at the top. This has left more of their marginal supporters confused and disenchanted. The real urban independents have now totally abandoned the PNC-APNU and clearly is not interested in the AFC. Many are going to support the PPP in these 2018 LGE. To add to that, the headwinds are already massive against APNU-PNC and AFC in many of the rural districts, so much so that they had to use tricks to launch some candidates and in others just abandon the effort to put forward candidates. You cannot call yourself a national party and not present candidates in all the districts. This is the difference between the PPP and the PNC-APNU. The PPP has put up candidates in all districts while the PNC-APNU did not.
Notwithstanding all this tail wind, the PPP success will depend on the discipline in the ground operations and the eventual turnouts. Their weakness in 2015 was their ground operations. Has this been corrected? Elections Day will provide the evidence.
On a final note, with all its sham, weaknesses, I am convinced that the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield will produce an election that is free enough and fair enough for the Guyanese people in 2018 because all eyes are on him, especially the American eyes.

Sincerely,
Sasenarine Singh,
MSc – Finance, ACCA
Maryland, USA