Opposition camp in “panic, disarray” days before elections – Jagdeo

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo

With just days to go before Guyanese head to the polls, General Secretary (GS) of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Bharrat Jagdeo, has described the Opposition camp as being in “panic and disarray”, saying that their recent rhetoric betrays an acknowledgement of looming defeat.

Speaking Thursday at his weekly press conference, Jagdeo pointed to what he described as a sudden shift in the political strategy of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and its apparent affiliate, the newly formed We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party.

“For four months, APNU never criticised WIN. Not a word. In fact, they were collaborating,” Jagdeo said, reminding supporters that the PPP/C had long warned of “a deep partnership” between the two groups.

He argued that the sudden emergence of harsh words between them is not ideological but tactical.

“Clearly, their calculation that WIN could help make the PPP a minority Government has now collapsed. They’ve reworked their numbers, and in panic, they are turning on each other.”

“… why didn’t they say it for the past four months? Why didn’t they speak about [it]? Suddenly they think Mohamed is corrupt? Why didn’t they say it for four months? Why did the Mohameds not say anything about APNU on their track record?” Jagdeo, who is also Guyana’s Vice President, pointed out.

“A lot of the camp, they were [in] deep collaboration; look at how many Ministers and members of parliament. You remember Mohamed said he will be taking people from the PPP and from APNU? Look at what he took – two Ministers of the last Government… Tabitha (Sarabo-Halley) and Dawn Hastings, and then a member of parliament too (Natasha Singh-Lewis)… They were sharing personnel,” he declared.

The PPP/C GS, recalling the contentious 2020 elections, reminded his audience that the PPP/C had withstood “every type of assault on democracy” and prevailed. He said this time will be no different, predicting confidently – though not arrogantly – that the governing party will win “by a handsome margin” on September 1.

“The PPP/C will win and win with a handsome majority… because we’ve been working for the past five years, and the people of this country have seen the results of that work.”