Why are you debating about this when the whole environment has changed?

Nagamootoo has to sell his "enhanced" role to his rural Indian base, and not just Regions 5 and 6, but to the very angry rice farmers in Regions 2 and 3, and to others in the very populous Region 4.  Will they buy it?  We will start finding out soon.

You do know that only 5k votes makes a difference and that isn't a major shift, even though it will have major consequences.

 The PPP need only take back 60% of the votes that it lost to the AFC.  And you know that many of them aren't too happy with any arrangement which includes the PNC, which they will swear engaged in "beat and kill collie" up to a scant 10 years ago.

I suggest that you focus on the fact that Nagamootoo telling Indians to vote PNC is a good deal harder than asking them to vote for him as an alternate to the PPP.

Here is the deal.  Blacks aren't voting PPP.  Amerindians aren't voting PERIOD.  So the election will be largely determined by what those Indians who are no longer hard core PPP supporters do.  Will they vote PNC?

Focus on that instead of fooling yourself that a bunch of armchair GNI posters, none of whom are going to vote or even campaign, are going to have any impact.  The most that might happen is that some one glances on GNI and picks up and idea or 2. And they do look at GNI.

You do know that only 5k votes makes a difference and that isn't a major shift, even though it will have major consequences.

 The PPP need only take back 60% of the votes that it lost to the AFC.  And you know that many of them aren't too happy with any arrangement which includes the PNC, which they will swear engaged in "beat and kill collie" up to a scant 10 years ago.

I suggest that you focus on the fact that Nagamootoo telling Indians to vote PNC is a good deal harder than asking them to vote for him as an alternate to the PPP.

Here is the deal.  Blacks aren't voting PPP.  Amerindians aren't voting PERIOD.  So the election will be largely determined by what those Indians who are no longer hard core PPP supporters do.  Will they vote PNC?

Focus on that instead of fooling yourself that a bunch of armchair GNI posters, none of whom are going to vote or even campaign, are going to have any impact.  The most that might happen is that some one glances on GNI and picks up and idea or 2. And they do look at GNI.

All I'm asking from you is a better strategy from the opposition than merging. You have none because there is none. Save me the drivel.

You can waste your time pontificating as if any one in Guyana will listen to you while you are living it up OUTSIDE of Guyana.

I already told you that debating about alternatives is a waste of time.  What is done is done and cannot be undone.  AFC=PNC as the PPP has been saying all along.

The PPP will try to scare 5,000 Nagamootoo voters (they voted Nagamootoo and NOT AFC) simply by telling them about PNC violence towards Indians a scant 10 years ago.  Knowing that how many will vote PNC?

YOU need to figure out how to deal with that mess, and by pretending that 60% of the population isn't Indian, so that you can ignore Indian sentiments, will be the height of foolishness when it is clear that there are more Indians among the voting population, than there are in the population at large.  You can argue whether it is 47% or 45% but one thing you know is that it isn't 40%.

You can waste your time pontificating as if any one in Guyana will listen to you while you are living it up OUTSIDE of Guyana.

I already told you that debating about alternatives is a waste of time.  What is done is done and cannot be undone.  AFC=PNC as the PPP has been saying all along.

The PPP will try to scare 5,000 Nagamootoo voters (they voted Nagamootoo and NOT AFC) simply by telling them about PNC violence towards Indians a scant 10 years ago.  Knowing that how many will vote PNC?

YOU need to figure out how to deal with that mess, and by pretending that 60% of the population isn't Indian, so that you can ignore Indian sentiments, will be the height of foolishness when it is clear that there are more Indians among the voting population, than there are in the population at large.  You can argue whether it is 47% or 45% but one thing you know is that it isn't 40%.

You are always sitting on a sick and arguing to your own demons. Who care where the five percent of the ppp voters go if the demographics has shifted as the indications seem to indicate. While none of us have the exact data, we can extrapolate from the information available. It shows Indians at a 39% of the population. This will not deviate greatly from the elections list so it means even if the retain all their numbers ( an impossibility) they still lose because you know the APNU base is hardened and their loss will be due to apathy. Even with some 80K differential in those not voting, the PPP barely broke the majority. Africans are going to turn out this time because of the sense of the inevitable. There is a very good chance of defeating the PPP.

By the way, it is downright ignorant to call us armchair whatever. We are certainly more informed than the average Guyanese. Further, having an opinion is not contingent on voting in Guyana.

 So let us use YOUR data.  Indians at 38%.  PPP gets 35% of the vote based on Indians, and another 14% based on non Indians.  That crushes your argument that racial voting will kill them because they would have won 25% of the non Indian vote.

Looking at the interior vote it isn't likely that Amerindians are more than 6% of the vote, so 12% of the voters will be PPP African/mixed using your numbers, so here comes the PPP with 25% of the African and mixed vote.  Quite good in a country mired by racial voting.

Your argument ironically works best if you use a higher number for the Indian vote.  Then one can argue that the PPP performance depends mainly on Indian behavior.  You can then calculate that exciting the African/mixed vote is what you must do, not woo them from the PPP.  Ditto for the Amerindian vote where many aren't voting.

I have stated elsewhere my thoughts about how the AFC/APNU can snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat, but complacency and the PPP wins as they are already spraying poor communities with vote buying projects, as we all predicted would happen.

And why will Africans vote, when many haven't voted since 2001?  How often does Granger bother with them?  Why will they assume that a Granger win will benefit them? 

Like every other segment of the voting population they will need to be convinced that they should vote.  So don't count their vote unless APNU does something to deserve it.

Stormy unless you are down in Guyana campaigning, fundraising,  and planning to vote you are an armchair prognosticator. ALL of us are, some just more practical than others.

 So let us use YOUR data.  Indians at 38%.  PPP gets 35% of the vote based on Indians, and another 14% based on non Indians.  That crushes your argument that racial voting will kill them because they would have won 25% of the non Indian vote.

Looking at the interior vote it isn't likely that Amerindians are more than 6% of the vote, so 12% of the voters will be PPP African/mixed using your numbers, so here comes the PPP with 25% of the African and mixed vote.  Quite good in a country mired by racial voting.

Your argument ironically works best if you use a higher number for the Indian vote.  Then one can argue that the PPP performance depends mainly on Indian behavior.  You can then calculate that exciting the African/mixed vote is what you must do, not woo them from the PPP.  Ditto for the Amerindian vote where many aren't voting.

I have stated elsewhere my thoughts about how the AFC/APNU can snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat, but complacency and the PPP wins as they are already spraying poor communities with vote buying projects, as we all predicted would happen.

And why will Africans vote, when many haven't voted since 2001?  How often does Granger bother with them?  Why will they assume that a Granger win will benefit them? 

Like every other segment of the voting population they will need to be convinced that they should vote.  So don't count their vote unless APNU does something to deserve it.

Stormy unless you are down in Guyana campaigning, fundraising,  and planning to vote you are an armchair prognosticator. ALL of us are, some just more practical than others.

De unity wukking bai. Three years ago, Granger didn't think Moses was good enough tuh be Speaker, Now he thinks he is good enough to be Prime Minister.

Ksazma, if that looks strange to you, I have known "stranger" things in my long association with active politics and my extensive reading of international affairs.

Ksazma, if that looks strange to you, I have known "stranger" things in my long association with active politics and my extensive reading of international affairs.

You do know that only 5k votes makes a difference and that isn't a major shift, even though it will have major consequences.

 The PPP need only take back 60% of the votes that it lost to the AFC.  And you know that many of them aren't too happy with any arrangement which includes the PNC, which they will swear engaged in "beat and kill collie" up to a scant 10 years ago.

I suggest that you focus on the fact that Nagamootoo telling Indians to vote PNC is a good deal harder than asking them to vote for him as an alternate to the PPP.

Here is the deal.  Blacks aren't voting PPP.  Amerindians aren't voting PERIOD.  So the election will be largely determined by what those Indians who are no longer hard core PPP supporters do.  Will they vote PNC?

Focus on that instead of fooling yourself that a bunch of armchair GNI posters, none of whom are going to vote or even campaign, are going to have any impact.  The most that might happen is that some one glances on GNI and picks up and idea or 2. And they do look at GNI.

Stick to what I'm telling you instead of making up nonsense that I never even said. Where did I ever claim that armchair GNI posters will have any impact on the elections? 

All I'm asking from you is a better strategy from the opposition than merging. You have none because there is none. Save me the drivel.

By the way, it is downright ignorant to call us armchair whatever. We are certainly more informed than the average Guyanese. Further, having an opinion is not contingent on voting in Guyana.

I suggest that you focus on the fact that Nagamootoo telling Indians to vote PNC is a good deal harder than asking them to vote for him as an alternate to the PPP.

That's Moses's challenge, one which I don't think 3 months is enough time to dissipate fears of the PNC.

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While Caribny's assessment of the electoral environment is one that I share I must add the element of time. It's in the PPP's favor.

Also while the 60% swing in Region 6 is achievable for the PPP with its stronger machinery of getting out the votes and talking advantage of vulnerabilities provided by the coalition, we have to not lose sight of the 10 Regional seats. This is why Caribny's comments on the voter turnout are worth noting.

Let's have an adult conversation about electoral prospects and not get wrapped up in emotions. Most everyone on this Board want to see the PPP lose. That's not a question. However answers provided by the coalition strategy and the tactics of campaigning that puts the AFC and APNU behind the 8-ball are what we're trying to put our 2cents worth on. So far Caribny and Shaitaan have advanced the more believable commentary.

Your numbers from poop chute are meaningless. The real numbers would on May 11th and not sooner. Stick to herding and takeing stock of  your cockroaches.

Dude if someone told you your mama was a virtuous woman, just for argument sake you would tell them she was a tramp. The point here is this is a monumental decision taken with full belief t here is some core of virtue in our racial mud and here you come with all your mud gear on asking who dare trample in your mud pile.

If sitting in my chair, taking care of my business and at the same time addressing salient issues about my country; I am doing my part. I wonder if anyone called Voltaire an arm chair revolutionary. You are still embracing the benefits of his caustic wit because the french revolution inspired this. It engendered the aphorism that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword.

Isn't it obvious? Have the AFC continue its momentum from the 2 previous election cycles and now with Moses in full bloom it can take 12 to 15 seats. Granger has been a better prospect than Corbin and he has room to up his total - by increased voter registration. That's what Caribny argues. Instead the coalition takes the AFC back 2 seats and the APNU at best (if it campaigns better and Granger is better than Corbin) is likely to get plus one. What that does is still leave the PPP with one more seat than the combined opposition and a majority in Parliament. The Presidency has never been in question as the PPP will have the votes.

Now for answers. Give this election cycle to a minority government and make it harder for ther PPP to get its way, with the threat of another motion of no confidence hanging. The combined opposition will have chairmanship of Boards and Parliamentary committees. Work the Pparliamentary way to reign in the PPP excesses. Then you build for the next election and send these PPP into oblivion. That would be my approach - work for the longer term.

I will state again - the coalition is a strategic mistake. Let's hope I'm wrong.

While Caribny's assessment of the electoral environment is one that I share I must add the element of time. It's in the PPP's favor.

Also while the 60% swing in Region 6 is achievable for the PPP with its stronger machinery of getting out the votes and talking advantage of vulnerabilities provided by the coalition, we have to not lose sight of the 10 Regional seats. This is why Caribny's comments on the voter turnout are worth noting.

Let's have an adult conversation about electoral prospects and not get wrapped up in emotions. Most everyone on this Board want to see the PPP lose. That's not a question. However answers provided by the coalition strategy and the tactics of campaigning that puts the AFC and APNU behind the 8-ball are what we're trying to put our 2cents worth on. So far Caribny and Shaitaan have advanced the more believable commentary.

Caribj and Shaitaan have advanced the theory that the merger of the opposition parties is a failure. They have no viable alternative strategy for the opposition which makes any sense. My point is that while the coalition may yet lose to the PPP, the option with the best chance of unseating the PPP is a Granger led coalition.

What is your strategy for an opposition victory that will produce better results than the Granger led merger? 

Mits, your rejoinder should have more substance than the responses more associated with Redux and Mars. You're better than that.

Caribj and Shaitaan have advanced the theory that the merger of the opposition parties is a failure. They have no viable alternative strategy for the opposition which makes any sense. My point is that while the coalition may yet lose to the PPP, the option with the best chance of unseating the PPP is a Granger led coalition.

What is your strategy for an opposition victory that will produce better results than the Granger led merger? 

A Joinder of Lists! Not a merger in one List.

So the MAJORITY of the Population thinks the PPP doing a GREAT Job and the Power Seekers want to use any and every thing to TRY and unseat them. Is that what you are alluding to?

The only substance your responses have is what comes directly out of your a-hole.

masturbatory nonsense!

The typical educated response...

The typical educated response..........

we are so much more informed now..........

I'm much better educated now and my humor quotient just went up.....

You think the opposition have not already explored that avenue and discounted it? What does the constitution say about the coalition of parties? First you wanted Nagamootoo to lead the coalition and when that didn't happen, you came up with this hare brained scheme. The PNC base will not vote for Nagamootoo as president. They will say that Granger sold them down the river and stay away from the elections. So there goes the largest base of the coalition. 

What pray tell makes this perfectly lawful idea provided for in the Constitution and statute "hare brained"?

Well, if the PNC base thinks the august and lofty position of "Presidential Candidate" is worth more to them than that worthless "elected President" post then more power to them. I'm not against stupid people being punished for their stupidity. Maybe the PNC support base just likes the wonderful excitement of election campaigns and aren't so hung up about minor things like "winning."

So why the need for the PNC/KFC Union.

I don't know why people always assume politicians are all knowing and all brilliant. They aren't. We don't know if they explored it at all. We don't know if the AFC asked for this and was shot down and instead told "merger or nothing."

What pray tell makes this perfectly lawful idea provided for in the Constitution and statute "hare brained"?

Well, if the PNC base thinks the august and lofty position of "Presidential Candidate" is worth more to them than that worthless "elected President" post then more power to them. I'm not against stupid people being punished for their stupidity. Maybe the PNC support base just likes the wonderful excitement of election campaigns and aren't so hung up about minor things like "winning."