The incredibly illogical mind of an ex-President.
Feb 21, 2017 Source.
In a response to Minister Bulkan in the newspapers, former President Ramotar observed that Wales estate would not have been closed if the PPP was not cheated out of office in the 2015 elections. This is the same President in 2011 who said that the election was not fair and that PPP supporters were not allowed to vote in Georgetown.
If Ramotar’s logic is to be accepted then the reality he paints is an unbeatable PPP. The PPP won in 1992, 1997, 2001, 2006, and according to Ramotar, in 2011 and 2015. Surely, one should not only question the intelligence of Ramotar but his sanity. If the PPP was cheated in 2011 and 2015 then the PPP is the only party in the world that cannot lose at the polls.
All over the world parties win and lose. In India the great Congress Party was defeated. In Barbados Owen Arthur won two terms and did well in government but lost going for a third victory. Prime Minister Portia Simpson narrowly went down to the opposition JLP in Jamaica. PM Manning in Trinidad called a snap poll half way into his term; he was trounced.
Despite his immense popularity in the US and the world, Barack Obama was unable to go over the numbers he got when he sought a second term. In fact his total tally of votes went down and despite his charisma and achievements, could not take his party to victory in the Senate and House of Representatives. Obama’s second term was crucially crippled by the Republican majority in both Houses.
What is it about the PPP that it is an electorally invincible party?
It is not, it is the foolish mind of people like Donald Ramotar who says so. But let’s follow Ramotar’s logic once more. He, as the presidential candidate for the PPP, won in 2011. He won again as the incumbent in 2015. Then if you exclude the cheating factor, he won two consecutive national elections yet could not secure the seat of the Opposition Leader in Parliament and the General-Secretary position of his party.
To date, Mr. Ramotar has not issued one word as to if he declined those positions. The reality is he is seen as the PPP leader who lost two consecutive elections and that explains his relegation in the PPP’s leadership. Ramotar writes frequent letters to the media but none of them explains the shape and logistics of the 2015 rigging as he claims.
But let us return to his 2011 accusations of fraud. Back then I wrote that it had to be complete asininity for the opposition in 2011 to tamper with the election process and the voting, yet lose the government. Why would you break into the bank and steal only the notes when the diamonds and precious jewels are lying right next to the notes?
There is more asininity in 2015 because, if we follow Mr. Ramotar’s mind, the election was rigged to give APNU and the AFC just a single-seat majority. The people who rigged such an election have to be far stupider than mosquitoes and ants. The Coalition won by just over 4000 votes and hangs precariously in Parliament with a one-seat majority. The margin of victory was one percent. Surely it had to be donkeys that would rig a national election and give themselves just one percent and one seat more than the party they cheated.
Do political parties that set out to steal an election through fraudulent planning give themselves a razor-thin margin of victory? If you are rigging, why not go for a two-thirds majority. You will be accused of rigging anyway.
Do PPP supporters believe the PPP was cheated out of the power in 2011 and 2015? If they believe that, then they ought to be afraid, because it means Guyana will never develop, since half of the population will always be in power and the other half will never be in office. They ought to be scared because the other half may wake up one day and say to itself; “We could never rule, so why should we accept to be permanent losers.”
The truth of the matter is that Berbice rejected the PPP in 2011 and the cross-over vote from the PPP to the AFC caused the PPP’s defeat in 2015. The shallow minds like Ramotar’s in the PPP can go on fooling their supporters that they were robbed. These supporters, if they accept such convoluted thinking, need to start becoming sane people. Only the insane believe the 2011 and2015 elections were corrupted.
