- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 31/Aug 04:10

Analyst: Irfaan Ali out front in Guyana election

POLITICAL analyst Dr Bishnu Ragoonath believes the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), under incumbent President Irfaan Ali, will win Guyana’s general election on September 1. He also predicted that the PPP/C will win by a larger margin than it did in the 2020 general election, when it defeated its main contender, the APNU/AFC coalition and two other parties, to gain control of the National Assembly. In that election, the PPP/C won 33 of the 65 seats in the Parliament. Ali is seeking a second and final term as president. “Clearly, at this point in time, I see Irfaan Ali and the PPP winning the election by a larger majority than they won last time. They will most definitely get more than 34 seats. But how much more we really have to wait and see,” Ragoonath told Newsday in a cellphone interview on August 30. In the run up to the election, several alliances were formed in the South-American nation in an attempt by opposition parties to boost their chances of unseating the ruling PPP/C. On June 29, We Invest In Nationhood (WIN), led by businessman Azruddin Mohammed, announced an agreement with A New and United Guyana. In the election, voters will cast their ballots for the party best positioned to manage the country’s widely reported oil boom. Reports indicate that US firms ExxonMobil and Chevron and Chinese conglomerate CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corporation) increased Guyana’s total installed capacity to about 90,000 barrels per day in early August. The country is projected to expand its oil production output to 1.3 million barrels per day by 2027. The oil boom has transformed Guyana into one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Under Ali’s leadership over the past five years, the country has experienced staggering infrastructural development. Reports said Georgetown, the country’s capital, has been transformed almost overnight with widened highways and a new, majestic four-lane bridge spanning the Demerara River. Schools, public hospitals, hotels and malls also have been built within the past few years. Despite these developments, the APNU has expressed concerns about corruption in the Ali administration. One report quoted Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton, leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PCNR), as saying, “A lot of our oil money is being wasted on projects that aren’t achieving their objectives. One of the major concerns is that we have been touted as the fastest-growing economy in the world, but a few people are getting rich and the majority of the population is in poverty.” The PPP/C has denied allegations of corruption. During Ali’s term a century-old territorial dispute with Guyana’s neighbour Venezuela was reignited by President Nicolas Maduro . Maduro has claimed sovereignty over Essequibo, a mineral-rich territory that accounts for two-thirds of Guyana. Meanwhile, days before the election, the US started boosting its maritime force in the waters off Venezuela to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels. That military is set to deploy a force that encompasses more than 4,000 sailors and marines in the Caribbean basin. Ragoonath said from all accounts, Ali, Guyana’s tenth president, seems poised to win the election. “The reports that I have been getting as well as what I have been seeing on social media says to me that the APNU opposition has had a disappointing turnout in terms of their campaign. And I am not sure as to the reason for that because I would have thought that they would have been able to hold on to their pace.” He also observed that WIN has been picking up support from both sides. “We have to be frank. Guyana has race-based politics just like Trinidad and they have been picking up support from both sides, from the PNCR’s traditional base as well as PPP’s traditional base. “My big question is that I am also aware of the fact that WIN has been using money to buy and to show support. So people are being paid. We have it in Trinidad where people are paid $150 every night to walk with a candidate in our election campaign. I suppose the same goes for Guyana. But in Guyana the numbers will change.” Ragoonath could not say if the supporters attending WIN’s rallies were “real or buy crowds.” He predicted, “What I see happening here is that the PNC/APNU coalition, as it stands right now, is probably looking as though it will come in a third place. “But WIN, if the support is real, they will come second. If however, the support is not real but rather it is a paid crowd that is going, then I think the PNC/ APNU will come in second and they will come third.” The Guyana Elections Commission has said that a total of 757,690 electors are registered to cast their ballots in the general election. TT’s Chief Elections Officer Fern Narcis-Scope heads a ten-member Caricom Election Observation Mission that will observe the electoral processes for the election from August 27 to September 5. The post Analyst: Irfaan Ali out front in Guyana election appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.