By GHK Lall- The long-anticipated date of the 2025 General and Regional Elections (elections) is here. September 1, it is, and already the storm clouds gather. Is GECOM really ready, or is this another case of rush the brush? Whatever is swept up is caught. Whatever is ignored, neglected, well, that’s somebody else’s problem, none of the PPP Government’s business.
Perhaps, this mindset, this dogged approach, to one of the most critical elections of all, is setting the stage for where this country should not go. In a country where national elections are a matter of life-and-death, there may be some space to operate, some reason found to justify, such an attitude. But, not in Guyana. Not in a Guyana now cresting with oil. Not in this Guyana at this time.
The September 1st date has caused some agitation in opposition ranks. What was heard before indicated that September 22nd was the earliest date of readiness at GECOM. It says something that a matter of 21 days, a mere three weeks, could generate this kind of acid, so many flurries of unyielding disagreement.
It’s a signal that every inch of the way from now to September 1st will be subject to a continuing eruption of differences, passions, and bad blood. The first two are cultural; the third is visceral, runs deep. There is so much ill-will, political bad blood in Guyana, that one more drop could capsize this country. An autopsy blinded those watching nearby, and from afar, as to that possibility, reality.
The PPP Government, its leaders, its practice is a blend of the indifferent and the evasive. It is that confident in its arrangements, good, bad, and sleek under-the-table narratives. There is not enough time. That is all that could be summoned, since money is not an issue, nor a delay to right the entire electoral process, and give all Guyanese the kind of elections that leave no room for dissensions and arguments. If that’s the problem, let us get consensus to fix it, and fix it now.
Rather than doing so, there is the preference and willingness to split hairs over biometrics and ‘bloated voters’ list(s).’ My thinking is that, with so much at stake, resentments so sharp, and trickles of ugliness seeping into (or out of) the social fabric, it would be better to pause, take stock, and address the gaps of contentiousness. Sacrifice a tough day today to get a smoother year later.
If the PPP as a party, as a government, as a national leadership cadre is interested in, is committed to, the quality of elections that this country needs, then there would be the fullest endorsement for, and total energy towards, getting to just such a state. If other places with a much larger number of voters can do so, then Guyana can.
Or Guyana must manifest that immovable determination to achieve that right here. To put all of this to rest, a clean government that has the best possible elections would sit and listen to the opposition concerns. Put them on the table, would be the invitation. So, there are two that rise above all others, what I hear and I call showstoppers. Drop dead demands. Biometrics and bloated list, they are. Then, both sides agree on a plan to get those points of dissension resolved.
If it is a matter of time, let there be agreement. If it is an issue of what to do in between, let those compromises be hammered out. Put these issues to bed, once and for all. If only that could be. But, then again, I am thinking of a perfect world, one that isn’t plagued by the bitterest of partisan politics, and the schemes that have one purpose. How to get an edge, any edge.
It perplexes that the cry for biometrics and about bloated list could have gone on so long, and with elections now almost on the nation’s head, there is wrangling and impassioned divisions on these two boiling areas. Why even think of elections with those in the background, hanging overhead? Why still go forward with elections, when those are unaddressed, and leave with only one possible conclusion?
Whatever the result of the upcoming elections, it is doomed to rejection. The hard and simmering polarization extends and intensifies. Of what good are such elections, when from today, this is where the country is? Or, at least, the people represent close to half of the electorate? I may be preaching to the deaf, but elections in such a roiling milieu are all but useless, and serve one or two purposes only.
First, the PPP is up to its usual crookedness, some sophisticated, others as crude as a porcupine’s quills. Or, that the corrosive tensions and agitations that undermine this country are given fertile grounds to be perpetuated. I recommend that the government faces the opposition, with one objective in mind: a meeting of the minds on what constitutes free and fair elections.
