A number of Guyanese who live in the United Kingdom would like to see a coalition government though the PPP/C won the majority of seats in the August 28 general elections.

However Guyana's High Commissioner to London, Lal Singh thinks otherwise and says that the opposition does not have to be given cabinet positions to be involved in the country's development.

In an exclusive interview, the High Commissioner said the PPP/C was victorious because the ordinary people benefited during the past five years from the governing party, and threw in their support to the Bharrat Jagdeo administration. He pointed out that the PPP/C picked up seats in all the districts and gained support from the PNCR as well as the TUF districts.

Singh added that the government will reach out to create an environment where they will take the country forward.

However, Dr Clement Seecharran, Head of Carib-bean Studies, London Metro-politan University and author of several books on Guyana disagreed. He said: "It is clear that ethnic voting has not been defeated, the fact that the AFC has secured five or six seats notwithstanding." He made reference to the PNCR observation that "there is a hardened perception among a substantial section of the Afro-Guyanese community... that they could not survive more years of the PPP/C rule."

The Berbice-born Profes-sor added that Guyana's problems of law and order are so monumental that the possibility of economic rehabilitation, to dispel the African-Guya-nese sense of exclusion from the process of governance and chronic discrimination, is dismal. "It is a crisis of dire proportions, beyond the capacity of the PPP/C to resolve on its own."

He added that after four consecutive victories, the results will lead many to think that the constitutional road is blocked and that politics will have to be pursued by other means. Guyana is sitting on a volcano, he added. The President and PPP/C must show magnanimity and statesmanship by seeking a government of national unity now in order to restore law and order and devise a form of governance more compatible with the complex ethnic reality of the country. Guyana-born Sir Ronald Sanders former Antigua High Commissioner to London, also supports a government of national unity. In fact Sir Ronald, who has been the Head of the Caribbean Broad-casting Union and former Guyana Broadcasting Service (GBS), has been advocating this for a number of years. Attorney-at-law Edward Rooney also feels that a national front government would be best for the Republic.

These sentiments have also been echoed by Michael Mc Alister and Ishmael Bacchus, two Guyanese who have been living in London for more than 40 years.