Many people who pay attention to PPP propaganda may be wondering why over the last few weeks the PPP, its surrogates, its acolytes and lackeys have been working overtime to undermine a PNC-WPA coalition. The answer is simple—the PPP fears APNU/PNC—WPA coalition.
The PPP knows that a united opposition would defeat the PPP in any free and fair election. Hence it is hell bent on undermining and breaking up any semblance of opposition unity. The electoral numbers are no longer in favour of an automatic PPP victory. So, there is a multi-pronged strategy to win at all costs in pursuit of PPP’s agenda of ideological and racial dominance. Here is the strategy.
First, capture control of GECOM and rig the election under the cover of the law. From what we saw in 2020, this aspect of the strategy—voter impersonation, dead people voting, disappearing statutory documents from ballot boxes, preventing poll workers from voting outside their place of residence, disenfranchising prisoners– could garner at least five seats for the PPP. Pinitol to this strategy is the maintenance of the bloated voters list and the denial of biometrics.
Second, use the government purse strings to buy votes from all political and ethnic constituencies, but especially from African Guyanese and Amerindian constituencies. Pivotal to this aspect of the strategy is a divided opposition and keeping the opposition from embracing the racial discrimination of their supporters. If successful, this could garner a minimum of two to three seats for the PPP.
Third, use the power of government to illegally regularise members of immigrant communities, especially Venezuelans and other Latin Americans as well as Commonwealth citizens who are recruited to work in Guyana. Pivotal to this strategy is refusing to divulge how many immigrants are in the country and how many have been granted citizenship. Based on unofficial numbers, this could garner a minimum of five seats for the PPP.
Fourth, engineer crossovers and endorsements from opposition members. This is intended to create the façade of popular support and demoralise the opposition base.
The perfect cover for this heist of the elections is a divided opposition fighting among themselves and against each other at the election. A divided opposition could demoralise opposition supporters who universally crave a grand coalition to fight the election. The PPP could then point to this scenario as the justification for its intended rigged result.
This is where the campaign to break up the PNC-APNU-WPA coalition is pivotal. The PPP has portrayed the PNC as riggers and placed some of its top members before the court for rigging the 2020 election. It has also pointed that party as taking away 6,000 sugar workers jobs and as the party of Burnham who violently oppressed Indian Guyanese for 28 years. Finally, it has painted the PNC as a party that cannot be trusted and its leader as a low class African.
It has portrayed the AFC as a bunch of greedy uppity people who are partners with Exxon, who gave away Guyana’s oil wealth to that company while at the same time being its legal advisors. It has also painted that party as betraying Indian Guyanese by using their votes to help the PNC oppress them. It has portrayed the AFC leader as an uppity crook.
It has portrayed the WPA as a group of anti-Indian racists who want to violently overthrow the government. It has charged two of their members and has them before the courts and is threatening to jail at least one other member. It has portrayed the WPA presidential candidate as a rabid racist.
Team Mohamed is portrayed as a crook and illiterate who wants to use Indian Guyanese votes to get back at the PPP. It cites the US sanctions against the Mohameds as a disqualification from running for office.
Given the disunity in the opposition ranks and the fact that the opposition parties are using some of the PPP talking points against each other, the PPP thinks it has succeeded in undermining any possibility of a grand opposition coalition for the election. It has reasoned that although the PNC/APNU-WPA coalition is not a grand coalition, it could still defeat the PPP in a fair election.
Particularly, the PPP fears that the APNU-WPA coalition is exciting a renewed optimism within the opposition’s traditional base which would consolidate the vote, beat back vote buying and increase turnout in that constituency. The PPP also fears that this optimism could lead to a last-minute deal with AFC.
The PPP strategy is also part of its traditional race baiting agenda—it is signaling to Indian Guyanese that a vote for an APNU-WPA coalition is against Indian interests. Hence the translating of every word from David Hinds into an anti-Indian narrative.
It is also playing on what it perceives to be a PNC timidness on the race question. That is why they are so upset with Norton for ignoring their trap when they tried to get him to condemn Hinds. The PPP forgot that it was only yesterday they were telling the WPA to cut the PNC loose because that party murder Walter Rodney. They are always trying to play the opposition against each other.
In the final analysis the PPP fears an opposition coalition, but especially an APNU/PNC-WPA coalition.
