GUYANA | Stop the March to One-Party Dictatorship Says Lincoln Lewis

GEORGETOWN, GUYANA, August 4, 2025 - No political party must ever be allowed to gain a two-thirds majority in Guyana’s National Assembly. That kind of power would be the beginning of the end for democracy, the rule of law, and every right and freedom the Guyanese people have fought for over generations. It would legalise the illegal, legitimise the abuse of power, and turn oppression into policy.

We are standing at the edge of a dangerous cliff. The electoral system we have today, bloated voters’ list and no biometric safeguards, cannot guarantee free, fair or credible elections. This is no technical glitch. It is deliberate.

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is under the thumb of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), aided and abetted by an international community that continues to prioritise its economic interests over the rights and dignity of the Guyanese people.

Now the PPP is boasting it will win a two-thirds majority. That should send alarm bells ringing across every village, mission, town and region. Such a victory would give them the power to change the Constitution of Guyana unilaterally. They would no longer need the opposition. They would no longer need the people. They would no longer need you.

A two-thirds majority is not just a political win. It is a national crisis. It would mean the end of checks and balances. It would mean government by force, not consent. The consequences for working people, for civil society, for every Guyanese who values freedom and fairness would be devastating.

This is not just politics. It is a war on democracy.

We must remember these elections are the most consequential since 1953 when for the first time Guyanese won the right to universal adult suffrage, the right to vote and determine their future. That right was not handed to us. It was fought for.

The Trade Union Movement, under the leadership of Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, began that struggle in 1926. In the 1940s it was carried forward by Cheddi Jagan, Forbes Burnham, Jane Phillips-Gay and others who demanded a Guyana where power would be shared, not hoarded by one group.

The fight then was for the right to vote and internal self-government. The fight now is to stop that vote from being stolen, smothered or rendered meaningless under the weight of a parliamentary dictatorship.

We already know what this government is doing with a simple parliamentary majority. Imagine what they will do with two-thirds. There is already fear to speak, to dissent, to associate. The Cybercrime Act is being weaponised to silence critics.

The courts are compromised. Transparency International says corruption is rampant. The World Bank says poverty remains entrenched. The United Nations Human Rights Committee says violations are ongoing.

This government, with just 50.69 percent parliamentary majority, has already done massive damage. Give them two-thirds and you are giving them a blank cheque to rewrite the Constitution in their image, to extend Bharrat Jagdeo’s political life into a third term or infinite, and to codify exclusion, oppression and discrimination under the guise of legal reform.

Let us not pretend we do not know what this is. A two-thirds majority would kill the spirit of the Constitution which demands collaboration between Government and Opposition, between Parliament and Civil Society. That principle of inclusionary democracy is what trade unions and democrats the world over is wedded to. This is what we must defend.

When the working people and the Trade Union Movement launched the struggle for one-man-one-vote and self-government, it was never to hand absolute power to one group to rule over the rest. It was to build a just society where every Guyanese, regardless of race, class or party, had a voice.

So today I say to you, wake up. Mobilise. Organise. Vote.

Come September 1, six parties and groups will be on the ballot. Not one must walk away with a two-thirds majority. This is no game. This is about your future, your children, and generations to come. It is about whether we remain free citizens or become subjects. Whether we live in liberty or under the whip of a new plantation class.

You have the power to stop this march to dictatorship. Your vote is your voice. Use it wisely or prepare to live without it.

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