CARICOM Must Help Guyana
jamaica-gleaner editorial
Jamaica, W.I.
Last week's general election in Guyana, with its resultant hung Parliament, has put that country in unaccustomed territory which, we believe, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) must be prepared to help it chart.
In that regard, the Community's leaders, while mindful of the line between support and meddling, should, through their chairman, signal to all parties the availability of their good offices to work through difficulties. This kind of pre-emptive political action, we suggest, is in that spirit of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, on which rests the programme for widening and deepening regional integration.
In Guyana's proportional representation electoral system, the People's Progressive Party (PPP)/Civic alliance gained 48.6 per cent of the votes cast a week ago, a plurality that assured it of 32 of the 65 seats in the national assembly. Its candidate, the PPP's general secretary, Mr Donald Ramotar, was, on the basis of the return, elected president.
But while PPP/Civic gets to form the government, it will be a minority administration. Between them, the two other groups, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change, gained 51.1 per cent of the votes and 33 of the legislative seats.
This means that unless the PPP can co-opt the Alliance for Change, which got seven seats, from its 10.3 per cent of the votes, it will have to govern by consensus, dependent on the opposition for the passage of legislation. The assumption is that the PPP/Civic has, in the Alliance for Change, its best shot at a coalition partner, given that the Alliance for Change's leader, Mr Khemraj Ramjattan, is a former, though excommunicated, member of the PPP.
Long-standing tensions
It is less likely that APNU, dominated by the largely Afro-Guyanese-supported People's National Congress (PNC), would be a coalition partner of choice for PPP/Civic and, in any event, would be less likely to willingly be part of a formal unity government.
Indeed, the history of Guyana's race-based politics and the long-standing tensions between the Indo-Guyanese-supported PPP and the PNC, which held power for 28 years until 1992, complicate issues. The current situation is likely to be further aggravated by claims from some elements of the PNC who believe that voting irregularities may have cost them the election.
In 1997, similar concerns by the PNC led to riots in the Guyanese capital of Georgetown which, gratefully, were contained. CARICOM, at that time, contributed to the efforts at calming tempers and in giving a stamp of legitimacy to the administration of the then president, Bharrat Jagdeo.
The Community should, this time, act early to head off any breakdown to prevent this important member of CARICOM descending into violent turmoil, the potential for which is exacerbated by the politics of ethnicity.
The better outcome for Guyana, of course, is where we started - administration by consensus. This assumes that the parties read the election result as a signal for them to retreat from a deep-rooted, race-based heritage. That is difficult, but not impossible.
We are encouraged by the initial talks between Messrs Ramotar, Ramjattan and APNU's David Granger. Should the PPP/Civic administration get going, a substantial test will come in a few months when it has to pass a budget, failure at which will precipitate a new election. In the meantime, CARICOM should help the Guyanese keep their country on even keel.
December 4, 2011
jamaica-gleaner editorial
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