PPP/C’s track record will bring victory at 2025 polls – AG Nandlall

The PPP/C government has secured the trust of Guyanese and established a track record of delivering on its promises due to its prudent people-centred policies and programmes.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Mohabir Anil Nandlall, SC, made the assertion during the budget debates in the National Assembly on Thursday.

He stressed the importance of trust and track record in electoral politics.

Minister Nandlall explained that there is a direct correlation between the budget estimates and the upcoming general elections, as the government will be seeking the votes of Guyanese to return them to office and will demonstrate that its track record is one of meeting the needs of the people.

“Once we show the people that the promises we made in 2020 have been delivered, we will ask them to return us to office. And that is what they certainly will do,” the AG said.

He noted that the opposition’s political legacy is one that inflicted scars on the country and laid the foundation for the destruction of Guyana’s international standing.

“We have three decades of track record from both parties to examine. We heard a lot about constitutionality and the rule of law, but none of these attributes, as important as they are, can exist without a simple thing: free and fair elections,” the senior counsel stressed.

He recalled that the 1968 general elections were the first in a long tranche of election rigging by the opposition. These elections saw the People’s National Congress emerging victorious, with 30 of the 42 seats in the National Assembly.

“The PNC was in government and they passed a law that allowed for overseas voting. And one-fifth of the persons who voted at those elections were overseas,” he noted.

AG Nandlall stated that an investigation conducted by a British communications firm revealed that these overseas voters were fabricated.

“You know what they did? They sat down in Georgetown, compiled a list and voted for 36,000 people in the United Kingdom…36,000 people that don’t exist. We were only two years old as a country, and they destroyed the democratic credentials of this country.

And they laid the foundation of what was to come. The 1973 elections followed, and it was worse rigged than the last. They used the army this time. Because of the exposure to the overseas voting, they had to find another mechanism to rig,” the AG explained.

This trend continued into the 1980 and 1985 elections, but the AG reminded that these efforts were finally quashed in 1992 and then again in 2020.

“It was not an easy task. The international community had to get involved. The Carter Centre had to get involved. And then we had the 1997 elections. We brought foreign observers. All over the world, people came here and observed. We had 2001 elections, 2006 elections, 2011 elections. Those are the elections we presided over. And all were certified to be free and fair by the international community and the world,” the legal affairs minister reminded.

He said besides condemnation from international governments, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Commonwealth, the private sector and other international organisations, former government minister and leader of the Alliance for Change, Dominic Gaskin also criticised the conduct of the APNU+AFC during these elections.

Turning to the 2020 elections fiasco, AG Nandlall highlighted several crucial elements including the supporters of the APNU+AFC were misled into believing that the coalition won the elections and that there was a deliberate attempt to discredit the entire elections.

“No evidence has been provided to support the claim of vast numbers of rejected ballots among the discipline forces, let alone the allegation of a deliberate attempt to invalidate the votes of the discipline services. [And] no power on earth, can convince the APNU+AFC leadership that it lost the 2020 election,” he added.

AG Nandlall reminded that in its ambitious ‘100 Day Plan’ the APNU+AFC vowed to liberalise the telecommunications sector within its first 100 days in office.

Five years on, this commitment never materialised and it was left in the hands of the PPP/C government to effectively end the monopoly held by the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT), opening the market to more competition. “They can never be trusted. They will come to the electorate and they will promise the skies, the mountains and the oceans, but it is all a farce. It is nothing but a three-card trick,” the AG emphasised.