LET’S HOPE ELECTIONS AND POST-ELECTION DRAMAS ARE PEACEFUL

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 30th August 2025, 9:00 pm

Pre-election periods in Guyana have always been generally peaceful, except for 1992. Post-election periods have sometimes been accompanied by violence, and always by drama. In 1992, tension pervaded the atmosphere because the outcome was uncertain for a multiplicity of reasons. Free and fair elections had last been held in 1964. It was generally expected that the PNC would lose and that the PPP, either alone or in coalition with other smaller opposition parties, which had big expectations, would form the government. The election campaign itself was largely peaceful, but election day and the immediate post-election period were marked by extensive violence directed at perceived PPP supporters and at derailingthe elections process. President Carter intervened and saved the day, and the rest is history.

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THE CARTER CENTRE’S PREELECTION GUYANA STATEMENT

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 16th August 2025, 9:00 pm

The Carter Center (the Center) and its team visiting Guyana are experienced Guyana hands, who care about Guyana and its future. In its preliminary report the Center noted that it commenced work in Guyana in 1991 and observed 5 of Guyana’s elections out of the 125 it has observed worldwide. The Center noted that it has conducted a range of activities in Guyana, including helping Guyanese articulate a comprehensive vision and development strategy; supporting civil society groups working to advance the status of women, youth, and Amerindians; assisting judicial system reform programs in partnership with the High Court, the chief justice, the Guyana Bar Association, and the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers; facilitating conflict resolution efforts in support of peace and political dialogue; and supporting government, industry, and civil society stakeholders to comply with the requirements of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. What the Center did not mention is that the foundations of our electoral system, similar to those of most countries in the Caribbean Region and wider afield, were based on the reforms mediated by then head of the Center, former President Jimmy Carter.

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A VICTORY FOR PUTIN

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 16th August 2025, 9:00 pm

The unanimous opinion of American observers is that Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, scored a major victory by merely securing an invitation to visit the United States. The embellishment of the victory by a red carpet welcome, a warm handshake, a Jet Fighter Escort, a ride with President Trump in his limousine and speaking first at the press conference, has infuriated Western journalists and observers. The isolation of President Putin by the West has ended.

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WILL THE ELECTIONS SHAPE GUYANA’S FUTURE DESTINY?

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 9th August 2025, 9:00 pm

The opening lines of Friday’s editorial in Stabroek News states: “Guyana will hold elections that will shape its future destiny.” Similar words have been written before previous elections. But if I were to choose three elections that shaped Guyana’s destiny, it would be the elections of 1968, 1973 and 1992. 1968 ushered in the era of rigged elections and economic decline. In the 1973 elections the PNC gave itself total power by way of a two-third majority which a large section of the middle class approbated as reflected by the public statement of seventeen of Guyana’s most prominent lawyers supporting a two-third majority for the PNC.

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF ELECTIONS

Written by Ralph Ramkarran
Saturday, 2nd August 2025, 9:00 pm

A brief history of Guyana’s elections allows for the predicting of election results. In developed countries, observers rely on pollsas a guide. In Guyana, reliance can be placed on historic patterns of ethnic voting, to which can be added circumstances that emerge at some elections.

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The Conversation Tree is both physical and philosophical. The physical is the tree itself, which has given its name to the road from which it originates at the intersection of the Rupert Craig Highway. It was reputedly first planted by Napleton William King in 1876 to celebrate the birth of his son Napleton Walter. As...
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