President Dr Irfaan Ali has described the October 5, 1992 General Elections as the culmination of a prolonged struggle by Guyanese to reclaim their democratic rights after decades of disputed elections, political authoritarianism, economic decline and suppression of freedoms.
In a statement marking the 34th anniversary of the historic elections, Ali said October 5, 1992, opened a new chapter in Guyana’s history by restoring the ballot as an instrument through which citizens could genuinely determine who governed the country.
He said the elections brought an end to almost three decades during which Guyanese were denied the opportunity to have their votes reflected through a genuinely democratic electoral process.
“October 5 was the day when, after almost three decades, the ballot once again became an instrument through which the Guyanese people could genuinely determine who governed them,” Ali said on Sunday.
He said the significance of the day must not be diminished by the passage of time, stressing that democracy was not simply handed to Guyana.
“The Guyanese people did not inherit democracy on October 5, 1992. They fought for it. They suffered for it. They sacrificed for it. And, ultimately, they reclaimed it,” the President said.
Successive rigged elections
According to Ali, the struggle began against a backdrop of successive rigged and widely condemned elections beginning in 1968, political authoritarianism, entrenched abuse of power, economic mismanagement and the suppression of the rights and freedoms of Guyanese.
He said the struggle was also about more than free and fair elections.
“It was a struggle for bread and justice. It was a struggle for dignity,” Ali said.
He said the movement sought to restore the fundamental democratic principle that Governments derive their legitimacy from the consent of the governed.
Economic crisis
Ali said the significance of October 5 must also be understood against the economic conditions Guyana faced in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
He described the country’s economic situation at the time as catastrophic, citing enormous external debt, declining production, deteriorating infrastructure and collapsing public services.
The President said the then People’s National Congress (PNC) Government had acknowledged that, by 1989, Guyana’s external debt-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio was approximately 925 per cent. He said external debt stood at approximately US$1.9 billion, including about US$1.14 billion in arrears owed to international institutions, foreign Governments, commercial banks and other creditors.
According to Ali, the external-debt-to-export ratio had reached 951 per cent in 1990, while between 1986 and 1990, average annual debt-service provisioning amounted to 153 per cent of fiscal revenue.
“These were not merely statistics. Behind every percentage was a human being,” he said.
Ali said the debt burden affected the country’s ability to provide essential services, while schools, hospitals, roads, water systems and public institutions were left starved of resources and in a broken state.
He said the declining economy also affected families, whose wages could no longer adequately sustain them, while young people looked overseas for opportunities and professionals left the country.
The President also referred to a fact-finding mission of the Caribbean Conference of Churches, which visited Guyana during the last quarter of 1990.
The mission found the country in what it described as a “state of crisis” and recorded the disrepair of physical infrastructure, poor water, electricity and telephone services, as well as a large exodus of teachers.
Ali said these circumstances demonstrated the extent of the challenges facing the country following years of economic decline.
Pressure
Despite the economic and political conditions, Ali said Guyanese continued to demand democratic change.
“They organised. They protested. They spoke. They demanded. And they persisted,” he said.
The President credited the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) with playing a central role in the struggle, particularly in pressing for electoral reforms aimed at ensuring that the votes of Guyanese were counted and accurately reflected.
Among the key demands was that ballots should be counted at the place of poll instead of being transported to a central location.
Ali said ballots had been transported during the general elections of 1968, 1973, 1980 and 1985, creating vulnerabilities in the chain of custody and counting process.
Other demands included a new voters’ list based on house-to-house enumeration, a restructured and more representative Elections Commission, and the presence of international and local observers.
The President acknowledged the role of the international community in pressing for the reforms but stressed that democracy was not simply given to Guyana by outsiders.
He said political parties, religious organisations, trade unions, workers and civil society organisations inside Guyana also joined the struggle.
Violence
Ali said the October 5 elections itself was not without tension.
He recalled that during the day, a violent crowd gathered outside the Elections Commission headquarters in Georgetown, where stones and bottles were thrown at the building.
The incident forced the evacuation of international consultants and non-essential staff, while violence and looting were also reported in the capital.
According to Ali, the violence formed part of an attempt to abort the elections.
He said further violence was incited when it became apparent that the PPP was winning, in an attempt to thwart the democratic will of the electorate.
However, the election continued, votes were counted and international observers remained.
“For the first time in 24 years, free and fair elections were held,” Ali said.
He noted that then President Desmond Hoyte accepted his party’s defeat, followed by a peaceful transfer of power.
Ali described that outcome as the “true triumph” of October 5.
“The mob did not defeat the ballot. The violence did not defeat democracy. The past did not defeat the future,” he said.
The President said October 5 restored democracy and legitimacy to Government and returned to Guyanese the right to elect a Government of their choice.
He also said the restoration of democracy restored Guyana’s international credibility and “kick-started the process of national reconstruction.”
Ali said the country that emerged from the struggle had inherited years of economic decay, deteriorated social services, damaged infrastructure, diminished international credibility and reduced hope.
“Reconstruction had to begin almost everywhere,” he said.
However, he said the first condition for that reconstruction had been achieved because Guyanese had reclaimed their political voice.
“That made rebuilding possible,” Ali said.
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