THE DEBATES ARE A WASTE OF TIME
April 21, 2015 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom, Source
In 1992 there was a televised debate between the presidential candidates of the People’s Progressive Party Civic and the People’s National Congress. Cheddi Jagan represented the former and Desmond Hoyte the latter.
Desmond Hoyte came with a predetermined strategy. He was grumpy and mean. He sought to bully Jagan into denying that he was a communist. Hoyte’s whole attitude spoiled the debate because he kept asking Cheddi whether he was a communist.
I thought Cheddi, not known for personal attacks, handled himself well in the discussion. And I had anticipated that many of the supporters of the PNC would have been disgusted with the grumpiness that Hoyte demonstrated.
To my surprise when I spoke the next day to a number of PNC supporters, they felt that Hoyte had won the debate and they even went as far as trying to ridicule some of the things that Jagan said.
From that day I was never a convert to political debates between the presidential candidates contesting elections in Guyana. The political culture is too polarized for these debates to swing anyone’s mind even though there has always been a significant block of voters who do not make up their mind as to who to vote for until the very last moment.
The outcome of debates between presidential candidates has never been established to swing votes. They may allow for candidates to contest positions on issues but they do not force any major shift in the voting preferences of the electorate.
They are thus merely held to allow for candidates to amplify their positions on issues. At least this is what it is said they do in theory. In reality these debates are a form of political theatre.
Anyone who has ever been to a debate at the University of Guyana will appreciate what political theatrics is about.
What takes place at the University of Guyana each elections year cannot be classified as a debate. It is really a piece of political theatre. The sessions are reduced to each of the political parties massing their supporters into the large lecture theater and having these supporters and cheer lustfully when their candidates make a point.
These sessions bring out the worst in the supporters of the political parties and make a mockery of the view that the academic community can be expected to be objective in assessing arguments made by the contestants.
These sessions are good for political cheerleading practice. But in terms of really allowing for an objective assessment of each candidate they fall far short of such expectations.
The organizing of debates between the presidential candidates of the various contesting political parties is a form of copycat politics. It is something that Guyanese have seen practiced in the United States and which has been an attempt to mimic here.
It is not an old tradition in Westminster politics. It is only in recent times that there have been debates between the leaders of the parties contesting elections in Britain. The British are joining the American bandwagon.
I have never heard a radio debate- there was no television in Guyana in those days- between Burnham and Jagan. And they contested a number of elections in Guyana.
The PPPC has opted out of a debate between its Prime Ministerial candidate and that of the opposition coalition APNU+ AFC. I do not think that many people accept the excuse that the PPP has offered. It has said that its candidate was subject to abuse on the political platform and it does not wish to countenance such conduct. It forgot to mention that the Prime Ministerial candidate of APNU+AFC has been the victim of similar treatment by speakers on the PPPC’s platform.
I am sure that many people believe that the reason why the PPPC has opted out is because it is attempting to shield its candidate from such debates.
It should in fact not dignify any such debates. They serve very little useful purpose and are reduced to theatrics. They have no bearing on the outcome of the elections and on the choices of undecided voters as Election Day nears.
