Nomination Day today

…as parties, groups gear up for LGE

THE Guyana National Congress, the People’s Village Movement, Advocates for Real Transformation, and Dr. Christopher Heywood are among the political parties, voluntary groups and individual candidates that would be contesting for a place at the decision making table within the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs).

On Thursday, a total of 61 political parties, voluntary groups and individuals would be heading to the offices of the returning officers within the 80 Local Authority Areas to submit their nominations ahead of the November 12, 2018 Local Government Elections (LGE).
In an advisory on Thursday, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) stated that political parties, voluntary groups and individuals with approved symbols to contest Local Government Elections 2018 are required to submit their Lists of Candidates on Nomination Day using the prescribed forms. Submission can be done between 10:00hrs – 14:00hrs.
A total of 62 symbols were submitted, however, 61 were confirmed for a total of seven political parties, 21 voluntary groups and 33 individual candidates.

BEHEMOTHS NOT ALONE
As anticipated, the A Partnership for Nation for National Unity (APNU), the Alliance For Change (AFC) and the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP) would be contesting in all of the LAAs but as political parties, they would be joined by the United Party for National Growth and Development, the United Republican Party, the Guyana National Congress and the GNS Party. Unlike the other political parties, which will be contesting in all municipalities and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs), the GNS Party would only be contesting in the 10 municipalities, which now include Mahdia.

The United Destiny Group, the Independent Group for Local Development, the People’s Democratic Movement, the Torch Bearers Enhancement Group, Community for Change and Development, People’s Village Movement, Horizon and Star, Youth for Local Government, For the People Group, Beterverwagting/Triumph 8th of May Movement, Beterverwagting/Triumph Action Force Community Development Group and Advocates for Real Transformation are among the voluntary groups for which symbols were submitted to contest the Local Government Elections.

Juliansburg Plegtanker Development Group, Development Association of Fort Ordnance, National Congress of Progressive People’s Alliance, Mahdia Concerned Citizen Group, Aranputa Residents Alliance, Linden for Lindeners, the New Horizon Movement, Kwakwani United for Progress and One People Development Group are also among the voluntary groups listed.

Of the 33 individual candidates who submitted symbols, a total of 12 are contesting in the municipality of Georgetown. They are Jai Narine Singh, Malcolm De Freitas, Rev. Fay I. Clarke, Yanchandra Rambarran, Accabre Cheddi Sepaul, Dr. Christopher Heywood, Louis Nestor, Michael Okombo Williams, Phyllis Joyce Jordan, James Hermanstein, B. Mayo Robertson and Eon Andrews.

The other individual candidates who had their symbols approved are Phyllis Carter, Ronald Griffith, Oswald Quamina, Bruce Granville, Shon Adams, Rajendra Bissessar, Terone Joseph, Patrick Cummings, Kelvin Mingo, Julian Joseph David, Eon Handel Warde, Emile Wilson, Beverly Ann Fraser, Ismay Dalrymple, Leslyn Edwards-Charles, Julius Mark Anthony Nuse, Daniel Ferdinand Ward, Omeshwar Sirikishun, Seymour Garfield, Mertimer Solomon, Orin McDougall and Dr. Orin Miller. They are hoping to contest in a number of constituencies in several LAAs.

MIXED SYSTEM
The Local Government Elections would be carried out by GECOM using a mixed system of Proportional Representation and First Past the Post. The Mixed Electoral System allows for 50 per cent or half of the number of councillors of each Local Authority Area to be elected through the Proportional Representation component and the other 50 per cent through the First-Past-the-Post or Constituency component.

Political parties and voluntary groups must contest all seats for the Proportional Representation component and must submit a list of candidates with 10 additional names, apart from the total number of councillors for the municipality or Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC).

In addition, only the names of candidates qualified to be councillors equal to the number of constituency seats which it intends to contest in LGEs must be submitted, while the name of an independent candidate can only be submitted for the seat he or she is contesting. GECOM outlined, too, that each list of candidates must be submitted on the prescribed form indicating name, address, ID number and occupation of each candidate and the names of candidates should be one below the other with surnames in alphabetical order.
The signature mark of each nominator must be stated, together with the name and the ID card number and each list of candidates must be accompanied by a declaration on the prescribed form, from each candidate contesting the election.

Local Government Elections (LGE) will be held on Monday, November 12. At the March 2016 LGE, approximately 507,633 persons were registered to vote for representatives of three political parties, 17 voluntary groups and 63 individual candidates in a mixed system of Proportional Representation and First-Past-the-Post.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.