Ethnic voting did not determine 2025 election outcome, Nascimento notes PPP/C policy-driven campaign

Veteran communications strategist and political commentator Christopher ‘Kit’ Nascimento believes Guyana’s 2025 General and Regional Elections signalled a major shift away from race-based politics, with voters responding instead to policies, programmes and national development.

Nascimento made the remarks on Monday during a panel discussion marking Guyana’s 60th Independence Anniversary celebrations at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel in Georgetown.

Reflecting on Guyana’s political history, Nascimento said the country inherited deep ethnic divisions that were fuelled during the colonial era and later entrenched in party politics.

“At the time of Independence, we had become an independent but dangerously divided people,” he said, recalling tensions between Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese communities during the 1950s and 1960s.

The longtime political observer argued that for decades, elections in Guyana were heavily shaped by ethnicity rather than national policy debates.

“People contested not based on policy and programme, but race ideology,” he said.

But according to Nascimento, that pattern is beginning to change.

“We must force our political leaders to win elections based on policies and programmes, and not from the ethnicity of the leader of the party,” he declared.

Nascimento said he believes the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic successfully did that during the 2025 elections.

“For me, it is evident the People’s Progressive Party has done just that, and that is why they won the last election with a larger vote,” he stated.

He argued that the results demonstrated that ethnic voting alone no longer determines electoral outcomes in Guyana.

“As an important determinant, it did not dictate the results,” Nascimento said, while adding that Guyanese are increasingly embracing a shared national identity above ethnic differences.

“I believe the great majority of us are proud to say, ‘I am Guyanese,’ and that is massive progress since Independence,” he added.

Nascimento also warned that Guyana’s greatest modern challenge remains protecting its sovereignty amid Venezuela’s continued claims to Essequibo.

“All the challenges we face as a nation, the defence of our people and our territory against the persistent aggression of Venezuela is the greatest,” he said.

The Independence anniversary discussion also featured Stanley Ming, Donald Ramotar and Kamal Ramkarran and was moderated by Clement J. Rohee.