Michael Vishnu Singh
When the voter goes into the polling booth and makes his or her choice only that person knows the choice. On the 28th of November thousands of people will have the future of Guyana in their hands. On that day Guyana will be expecting its citizens to have the courage and faith to do something important for the nation.
This election has all the hallmarks of previous elections which marked an important turning point in our history—1953, 1961, 1964, 1973 and 1992. Each one of these elections saw a shift in the national consciousness. The unexpected happened in all these elections. The British never thought that one party would totally dominate the 1953 elections. In 1961 the PPP pulled off a major win by not contesting the eight seats in Georgetown forcing the PNC to concentrate their energies on the city and allowing the United force to win three seats. 1964 saw the game changing scenario of a proportional system replacing the first past the post and a coalition government.
In 1973 the voters supporting the PPP felt cheated when the results appeared totally out of sync with reality. The 1992 elections saw the appearance of international monitors and a feeling by most of the electorate that regular elections were back on stream. This election is shaping up to be one in which people shift their forces. An interesting number of personalities have moved from one grouping to another. I think this reflects the thinking of the electorate.
I will relate three incidents that show that strange things happen in the polling booth. In 1982 I was in Grenada and staying in an apartment owned by the former deputy to Eric Gairy. One day in a conversation with his wife she told me of her disappointment with the Maurice Bishop government. Then in a shocker she told me. “Even though my husband was Gairy’s deputy in the last election I voted for Maurice Bishop. Now they humiliate me after their revolution”
In Jamaica in 1988 even though I was an outsider I strongly supported Michael Manley. The woman who was looking after our children always seemed reserved when our friends spoke warmly about the PNP. So I asked her, “Sylvie, don’t you like Mr. Manley and the PNP?”
“Mr. S.”, she said, “I was born JLP”. She meant that in tribal politics she would always vote JLP. On the night of the elections she was at our home and I noticed that she grew more and more excited as news of PNP victories came out. “The JLP isn’t winning”, I said. She replied, “After what you said about Mr. Manley, I voted PNP.”
My final story happened in Trinidad and Tobago in 1996. I was helping a friend campaign for the UNC in Patrick Manning’s constituency—obviously a PNM stronghold. We had a stormy meeting. We were heckled throughout the meeting. Things were thrown at us and group led by a young woman poked Manning placards in our faces.
After the meeting my friend went and spoke to the individual members of the crowd telling them that he appreciated their loyalty to Manning. Then we went into San Fernando to get something to eat. Suddenly we heard the voice of our principal tormentor. She told us Manning was her man and she was putting up posters. We told her she must be hungry and invited her to have a chicken roti and a Solo. After a pause, she came in, sat down and chatted with us making jokes.
As she left, she suddenly turned around and said. “You know Mister, you are a nice person. Who knows—on Monday my hand might stray.” We laughed and said make sure it strays to UNC.
After the election we ran into her on the streets. She ran up to my friend, hugged him and said, “My hand strayed to the UNC.”
There is a silent group of voters who have looked on in dismay at the unfairness, the crudity, the arrogance, the winner take all mentality of the ruling group.
On November 28th may these voters of Guyana use their hands and vote for the hands that will reshape Guyana for the better. Vote APNU
No comments:
Post a Comment