General Secretary of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has expressed full confidence of the party winning the upcoming polls but nevertheless, he warned supporters of the risks involved this elections season, including attempts by the opposition to create a minority government in the next parliament.
“We will win the elections, it’s just a matter by how much. We want to win by a landslide,” Jagdeo declared while addressing a gathering of over 12,000 supporters at the party’s East Coast Demerara fundraising dinner held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre on Friday evening.
“So, [come] September 1, we’re winning these elections. But we must not be unmindful about the risks. There are lots of risks because people are trying, through rumors, to split the votes,” he warned.
Jagdeo pointed out that no matter how much work is done by government to improve the standard of living for citizens, these could all be overlooked with just a social media post about something minor.
“That is how people sometimes form their opinions about politics today – online; not on the basis of facts and reality. And many people do not follow enough because they rely heavily on internet for their information.”
In fact, Jagdeo – who is also the country’s Vice President, warned about what will happen if the PPP wins the presidency but does not control the parliament.
There was a minority government under the Donald Ramotar Administration from 2011 to 2015 – a term that was cut short and saw the combined parliamentary opposition voting down budgetary allocations and funding for a series of major transformative projects, thus stymeing economic development.
Jagdeo reminded the gathering, “you remember what happened when we did not control the parliament in 2011? They cut $90 billion from the Budget – money for education, Amerindian development [and] everything else. So, they want that [again]. They know the PPP will win but they want a hung parliament…”
“They believe they can encourage new forces to split the PPP votes. So, APNU (A Partnership for National Unity) and AFC (Alliance For Change) can’t go back to the sugar belt and the rice belt or many parts of the country to campaign. Nobody listens to them. So, people like Azruddin Mohamed now, he can serve that role. They all said that they will work together to bring the PPP below 50% in the parliament so they can control the parliament.”
Though noting that this could never happen, Jagdeo went on to to warn of risks for the country if the US-sanctioned businessman, Azruddin Mohamed, becomes President, especially as it relates to the ongoing border controversy between Guyana and Venezuela.
The United States is one of Guyana’s strongest allies in face of the threats to its sovereign territory by the Nicolas Maduro regime.
“Just imagine if [Mohamed] becomes President, Maduro is sanctioned there and he’s sanctioned here, who would the US Government really support? We’d lose that security that we have on the border. We cant put our country at risk…”
“So, they were hoping to use him to split the PPP votes. Listen to the Sherod Duncans and the others, saying ‘we would work with him (Mohamed).’ He had secret meetings with the AFC and others to bring the support to below 50% in the parliament – they know they can’t win the presidency – to stop the progress in Guyana like in 2011. But we will not allow that to happen, you will not allow that to happen. So, you have to not just be resilient you have to carry this message back into your communities, wherever you live,” the PPP General Secretary emphasised.
Ahead of the September 1, 2025, General and Regional Elections, 22 political parties have indicated their interest in contesting the September 1 polls and have since submitted symbols to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) – 19 of which were approved.
Nevertheless, Jagdeo highlighted that more citizens are realising that the future of Guyana is better secured under a PPP government.
“We’ve been able to reach out to non-traditional supporters of the PPP. We’ve grown strong in the Amerindian communities, in the Afro-Guyanese communities who were kept away from us because of the rumors that we’re a racist party. Now, they’re coming to use because they see their future, their children’s future will be better secured under the PPP Government, and now people are looking at pure performance rather than how you look to give you a chance at leadership,” GS Jagdeo noted.
