OK Folks,
The PPP will be selecting their Presidential candidate for this year's election. As PPP supporters and potential AFC crossovers to the PPP, there need to be a transparent and secret voting process.
President Jagdeo delivered the fatal blow to APNU and must be congratulated for reigniting the PPP base and attracting curious first time voters to the PPP.
That job has been completed and now a new task is at hand. Jagdeo is our hero and so is Charandass who delivered a death blow to APNU. There is now a larger task at hand and it involves looking at a bigger prize.
Five Central Committee members have either put themselves forward or were nominated to be the candidate. They are: Irfaan Ali, Dr Frank Anthony, Anil Nandlall, Dr Vindhya Persaud and Gail Teixeira.
All of these Candidates will try to persuade the CC as to why they should lead the PPP and that is very democratic right. But the candidate selection process must be transparent. I read a statement that the candidate should be a "consensus" candidate and if there is not one, then a secret ballot should be held ?
What ? Did I hear that correctly ? Yes, I did and I disagree. Why ?
The Presidential candidate MUST be selected by secret ballot. As a die hard supporter, I demand that the voting process be secret and let member of the CC select the best candidate by one vote each. CC members must not feel pressured or intimidate in selecting a candidate and it MUST be secret and free of pressure to select a Candidate.
A former president usually prefers one candidate over another or even endorse that Candidate but the CC must elect that candidate by a secret ballot. The PPP must lead by demonstrating to the voting public that they are also democratic.
It would be undemocratic for the PPP to "select" a "consensus" candidate. I call on the CC members and President Jagdeo to demonstrate leadership by ensuring that the voting process is transparent and by a secret ballot, no other way is acceptable.
As for the candidates, I have my preference of Dr. Vindhya Persaud who also happens to be my god sister though my affiliation with Pandit Reepu Daman Persaud. She is squeaky clean with ZERO baggage. I am realist and will be honest enough to admit that she does not have enough of CC votes to become the President but she is definitely minister of health candidate.
All of the other candidates bring strengths to the table but in the end, only one can be selected. Hopefully, the loser or losers do not tear up their membership card/cards after a loss like what Neemakharam Moses did to the PPP.
Those who are leaning to the PPP seem to prefer Dr. Frank Anthony and while he strikes me not as charismatic as Jagdeo, he might be the candidate to win over a broader cross section votes.
Irfaan is definitely in line for a Finance position but not a candidate with a board based political support from a broad cross section of Guyanese.
Anil is the strongest candidate but again, first time PPP voters would prefer to see a candidate with zero political baggage.
Gail is my fellow Canadian and had served the PPP with distinction but the "Ambassador" fiasco still lingers with a bad taste.
I call on the members of the CC not to be pressured in making their selection but select their candidate of choice via secret ballot. The supporters of the PPP and potential supporters are closely watching.
May the better Candidate win ! Long Live the PPP !! Let us all drink from the cup, open the door and let the man come in, all a we is one family.
Yuji22
Amna will hold you down when she does this.