– of who’s in the LGE race come Nov 12

THE Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) said Thursday that it is now in receipt of all symbols submitted at branches across the country by political parties, voluntary groups and individuals seeking to contest the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGEs).
This is according to GECOM’s Public Relations Officer Yolanda Ward. “Today we managed to get in all the symbols coming from all the regions, because as you know, our offices were opened around the country until midnight,” she said.

The deadline for submission of symbols for prequalification was Wednesday, and to facilitate as many potential contenders as possible, GECOM’s offices were open until midnight that day.

And while she declined to disclose what the numbers are, Ward said the symbols are still being processed. “We do have a tally and we have been putting the symbols in their respective categories. However, you would appreciate that there are some administrative things that need to be done,” she told the Guyana Chronicle when contacted on Thursday.
Ward said that by Monday, GECOM will issue a press release with a full breakdown. While the Guyana Chronicle is uncertain of the number of submissions, it is clear that the three major political parties, namely, the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), the Alliance For Change (AFC), and the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) have submitted their symbols for prequalification.

Youth for Local Government Elections, a civil group, is likely to have submitted a symbol as well, having signalled its interest in contesting the elections.

Team Legacy and the Bartica Independent Green Alliance (BIGA) that were among civil groups that created quite a stir during the run-up to the 2016 Local Government Elections, are not likely to have submitted symbols, given that some of their key players have thrown their support behind the APNU and the AFC. Team Benschop has opted not to join the race this time around.

Any list of candidates submitted by any political party, voluntary group or individual candidate on Nomination Day (September 21, 2018) without the pre-approved symbol will be deemed defective, and the defaulting political party, voluntary group or individual candidate will be deemed ineligible to contest the elections.

In a recent publication, GECOM explained that political parties or groups must contest all seats for the Proportional Representation component of the poll, 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 will held on Monday, November 12.

At the March 2016 LGEs, 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.