Talks could lead to real Guyana democracy

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, Express - The governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP) and the Opposition parties in Guyana are locked in a unique governance struggle in which two combined opposition parties command the majority in the legislature and can therefore block legislation introduced by the Government.

The PPP’s Donald Ramotar was elected president of Guyana by a plurality of the votes cast in general elections in December 2011, but the party failed to win an overall majority in the legislature.

Since then, the country has had to experiment with an exceptional model of demo¬cracy because the elections produced no overall winner, and therefore, unlike other countries in the Caribbean, there has been no winner “taking all”.
Instead, the government and the two parties that comprise the opposition have had to bargain with each other to accomplish a legis¬lative programme.