Amid growing calls from smaller parties contesting the September 1 General and Regional Elections for voters to split their ballots, Financial Analyst Joel Bhagwandin has warned that such a strategy is destined to fail.
As Guyanese head to the polls on Monday, the Alliance For Change (AFC), We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), Forward Guyana Movement (FGM), and the Assembly for Liberty and Prosperity (ALP) have urged citizens to divide their votes in hopes of engineering a minority government.
See Bhagwandin’s full comments below:
“As we’re on the topic of minority governments, can the proponents point to a single case—anywhere in the world—where this model of governance has proven successful? The record, however, suggests otherwise.
“Even in our own experience (2011–2015), the results were far from encouraging.
“Case in point: just days ago in Europe, reportedly a French minority government’s potential collapse put the economy in stalemate (see full story here: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/french-minority-government-s-potential-collapse-puts-economy-in-stalemate/3670548
“The parallels with Guyana’s 2011–2015 experience are striking. For the first time, we too faced the realities of a minority government: critical bills stalled, national budgets slashed, and the country teetered on the edge of FATF/CFATF blacklisting due to unresolved deficiencies in anti–money laundering and counter-terrorism financing legislation.
“Ultimately, it all ended in snap elections in 2015—and the rest is history.
“In particular, the literature shows that minority governments tend to collapse quickly in polarized systems as seen in the cases of Guyana, the United Kingdom and Italy, thereby triggering early elections.”
Historically, minority governments have struggled to provide stability, often collapsing under the weight of political deadlock and leaving behind fragile economies.
Europe offers some of the clearest examples: in France, the current minority government is teetering on the edge of collapse, stalling critical economic decisions; in Italy, short-lived minority administrations have repeatedly triggered early elections; and in the United Kingdom, minority governments have struggled to pass budgets and major legislation, forcing compromises that weakened governance.
These cases reinforce a consistent global pattern – minority governments rarely endure and almost always produce uncertainty, instability, and economic stagnation.
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