Small parties optimistic in PPP/C Govt of meritocracy

With the recounted results of ballots cast on March 2, placing the Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) into Government, small parties are looking to the formation of a new administration based on meritocracy.
This, according to General Secretary of The New Movement (TNM), Dr Josh Kanhai — one of the joinder alliance also slated to take up a seat in the National Assembly, expected to be convened after the swearing in of a new President.
Dr Kanhai expressed his party’s views in a public missive on Monday, wherein he noted that “the PPP enjoys a majority government.”

He noted, however, “but it is my hope that the Parliament in time will be one of many parties, not just two opposing sides. This one seat is the turning of that tide.”
According to the TNM General Secretary, “It is my hope that the newly formed executive arm of government is based on meritocracy.”

As such, Dr Kanhai said, “I sincerely hope the PPP/C equip their new cabinet with qualified young people, and we not see a shake out of the same recycled faces from 2015.”
Speaking to the new parliamentary dispensation for the upcoming National Assembly, Dr Kanhai noted that the 12th Parliament in “my beautiful land will be a unicameral parliament with an independent third-party voice.”
According to the TNM General Secretary, “The Alliance for Change had this opportunity in 2011 and quickly squandered it.”
With the joiner agreement, the 65th seat of the Twelfth Parliament will be going to the three parties in the joiner agreement.

According to Dr Kanhai, the PPP/C has earned a clear majority in Parliament, which means any bill they want they can just pass, but it is his hope that they use this opportunity to truly include all the voices in the legislative branch when passing bills.
The sentiments by the TNM on Wednesday coincided with calls by the Inter Religious Organisation of Guyana (IROG) “to accept the results of the recount process when declared, and remain peaceful.”
The organization, in a statement to the media on Wednesday, observed that for the last 18 months, “…our country has been gripped in a political vice; now the end seems to be in sight.”

The entity has since reiterated its call on the electorate to “dig deep and find the resolve to refrain from, avoid, and condemn any and all forms of violence and social unrest.”
The publicly tabulated figures of the recount of ballots cast show the PPP/C taking 33 of the 65 seats in the Legislative Assembly, while APNU/AFC will take 31 seats. The remaining one seat is expected to be held by the Joinder Alliance, comprising the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), A New and United Guyana (ANUG), and TNM.

The full Commission of the Guyana Elections Commission is expected to receive a report of the tabulated recount results prepared by Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield on or before June 13. The Commission has in its Gazetted Order on or before June 16 to make a final declaration of the March 2 polls, more than three months after the March 2 polls — the single longest such hiatus in the nation’s democratic history.