Executive Member of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Dr. David Hinds, is of the firm view that none of the recently formed political parties stand a chance at making an impact at the 2020 General and Regional Elections unless they join forces with one of the major political blocs.
In fact, Dr. Hinds told Guyana Standard today that it is actually the worst time for new parties since a cloud of despondency does not overshadow the nation.
The political activist said, “We are at a very polarized period in our history and it is the worst time for new parties simply because, following our history, these new parties usually take advantage when supporters of the major parties are despondent with their parties and I don’t think that is the case at this time.”
The WPA Executive Member added, “In so far as there are disgruntled coalition supporters, there are small parties within the coalition who are able to speak to those disgruntled voters and keep them within the coalition’s camp. Also, traditional PPP supporters aren’t willing to experiment after the disappointment with the Alliance For Change (AFC)…”
As for the recently formed A New and United Guyana (ANUG) which is led by former House Speaker and Attorney-at-Law, Ralph Ramkarran, Dr. Hinds posited that like the other new parties, it does not stand a chance. Dr. Hinds further stated that the kind of voters likely to rally behind Ramkarran would be the middle class Indian who voted for AFC in 2011. The political activist said he strongly believes that those voters are not inclined to experiment again. The other party, he said, that is likely to win some votes would be the Liberty and Justice Party which is led by Lenox Shuman.
The WPA Executive Member said, “They could garner some Amerindian votes. But even Shuman has asked himself, ‘What am I going to do with the votes when I get them?’…And so subsequent to that you have seen that he and President David Granger are in talks about a possible union. The fact of the matter is that if a new party is interested in government then it has to join one of the big boys. That is just a reality….”
Dr. Hinds said it would be delusional for any third party to think it could take precedence over the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) or the APNU+AFC coalition.
