Jagdeo warns PPP, PNCR face extinction if they fail to adapt

(Kaieteur News) – Vice President and former President Bharrat Jagdeo has warned that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) and the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) risk political extinction unless they adapt to changing political attitudes, particularly among younger voters, and move beyond the racial divisions that have historically shaped Guyana’s politics.

Speaking on Wednesday night at a night of reflections for the late Robert Corbin, former PNCR leader, deputy prime minister and Leader of the Opposition, at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Jagdeo said the two parties must develop a new approach to politics or risk losing their relevance in a changing Guyana. “Unless our parties, these two parties change today, the era of binary thinking, of old think, is long gone. We will face extinction,” Jagdeo declared.

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He argued that younger generations were no longer necessarily viewing politics through the rigid, traditional divisions that have long defined the country’s political landscape, but were increasingly prepared to support different parties on different issues. “The young people of today, they see things differently in shades of grey and multiple thinking,” he said, adding that voters might support one party on one issue and another party on a different issue.