Endorsements are headline grabbers

In recent times the talk has been about endorsements. Much has been made of the endorsements by people leaving one political party and announcing support for the incumbent. I found this to be interesting especially since it appears to have come from the playbook of the United States. In the United States endorsements come from major organisations such as trade unions and big companies.

These endorsements suggest that most of the votes from those organisations would go to the source of the support. Guyana is a different kettle of fish. People with no known support are in effect announcing their intention to support one leader or the other. In reality that is simply announcing who that person would vote for at the polls.

Aubrey Norton, at a recent press conference, said that he doubts that those who appeared to defect from his party will carry three votes. But it makes for good publicity for the person gaining the endorsement.

In Guyana, the reality is that people do not vote for a personality. They vote for a political party. Someone once said that if one were to put a crapaud to head the PNCR and a donkey to head the PPP those who are so inclined will vote for either party.

Gone are the days of the charismatic leader. When Forbes Burnham and Dr Cheddi Jagan headed the two major parties they were the main attractions. People walked miles to hear them address the public rallies. Those supporters were diehards.

Much has changed. The public rallies are not so frequent. In the case of the PNCR the rallies that would attract the largest crowd would be those featuring the leader. In the case of the PPP where there are said to be two leaders, Bharrat Jagdeo would attract a far larger crowd than the incumbent, president Irfaan Ali.

The reason is simple. Jagdeo has maintained an iron grip on the party that sees him as the biggest thing in that party. He has the power to overturn decisions by the President and he makes no secret of this.

So those who come out to announce their endorsement for Irfaan Ali are in fact endorsing Jagdeo and the PPP. Irfaan Ali is incidental. Jagdeo could change him tomorrow. If that happens the endorsement would be exposed for what it is; an endorsement of the People’s Progressive Party.

President Irfaan Ali has already announced that elections would be held on September 1, 2025. The opposition members on the Guyana Elections Commission immediately called a press conference to announce that the advice given to President Ali was not in consonance with the work plan designed by the Commission.

They said that the plan had suggested that the elections could not have been held earlier than September 22. However, the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission, Justice Claudette Singh, later responded that she, having consulted with the Chief Elections Officer, recognized that September 22 would have been outside the constitutionally mandated date for the holding of elections.

This necessitated the change from the outside date. There is a view that with elections less than three months away the National Assembly should have been dissolved by now.

The Constitution merely states that elections must be held within three months of the dissolution of Parliament. As a layman, this would mean that the dissolution of parliament could occur at any time before September 1.

That being the case, one would have expected to see public rallies and meetings. But one can only assume that with the preponderance of social media the focus would be to talk to people electronically. Yet that cannot be as effective as the face to face communication.

In addition, the public would be exposed to the new candidates on the list if there are public rallies. Whatever the case, it would seem that the elections fever has not gripped the nation.

This could be because of the failure of the Guyana Elections Commission to guarantee what the opposition claims will be a fair election. There is the voters’ list which is severely bloated. Further, there is the inability of the parties to mount proper objections.

There are claims that Venezuelan migrants have been registered to vote. The parties simply do not have enough time to mount their objections. They have five days to identify the problems and to get them corrected. That is simply not enough time.

The Commission has refused to help reduce the possibility of multiple voting by introducing biometrics. The opposition had long petitioned for biometrics but the Commission made no effort to facilitate this move.

And from the point of the electors there is a lot to talk going around. There is the new kid on the block, Azruddin Mohamed. He has caused shivers in the government ranks but the opposition says that he could be another support tool for the PPP.

Norton told a press conference that Mohamed and the PPP were bedfellows. He said that if Mohamed secures votes at the polls and secures seats in the House, he could very well pool his resources with the PPP.