The People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) says the new political parties which are emerging to contest the March 2020 national elections are no match for its 62 years in the local political arena.
“The PNCR is a mass-base party, it has 62 years of experience in politics,” Executive Member of the PNCR, Retired Rear Admiral Gary Best told reporters on Friday at the party’s weekly press conference at Congress Place, Sophia, Greater Georgetown.
He said the PNCR –the leading parting in the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) –does not see the smaller parties as any major threat.
“We see the parties emerging in the community as necessary and useful.”
Best said the smaller parties have “no track record” as he boasted that the PNC has been in office for a lengthy period of time and developed the country’s infrastructure.
He added that over the past four years, the Government has been able to develop an inclusive society under a coalition umbrella.
Best’s comments came one day after the launch of the fourth political party this year –The Citizenship Initiative (TCI).
TCI is the fourth political party to be launched this year. The others are the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP), A New and United Guyana (ANUG) and the Federal United Party.
The four parties touted the possibility of gaining a seat in the 65-member National Assembly, however, Best said it is difficult for a party which has just been formed to gain significant votes at the next elections.
He hinted that the APNU may seek to engage the smaller parties to join the coalition.
“In our view, coalition politics is here to stay, so the extent to which there’s other parties that are being formed is the extent to which the David Granger-led administration party will be concerned –but not from a negative perspective –to see how broad the coalitions can be in the future,” Best said.
The PNCR Executive alluded to the TCI party noting that “they haven’t come up with anything new.”
The TCI party said it will be pushing social cohesion, constitutional reform, the decriminalization of marijuana and a futuristic plan for the infrastructure sector –all of which Best said are core principles of the APNU+AFC coalition.
In fact, the PNC still sees itself contesting the elections only against the People’s Progressive Party.
Reading from a prepared statement, he said: “At the next election, it is a choice between a government led by President David Granger, trusted and respected by the international community, or one led by Irfaan Ali and the PPP, whose policy of dishonesty left Guyanese without hope for the future.”
Best said it is only President David Granger who has the honesty, integrity, diplomacy and qualifications to take Guyana forward.
